Of Officers And Agents
by TheBlackHand724
Summary: AU, no ep.2.24 Rick/Jordan Kate/Tom. Set in June & after Ep.2.23 Rick finds love with a little help & Kate's jealous. This leads to a big fight. Rick gets a new job as an FBI Agent. Fun&Fluffy NOT CASKETT but give it chance. T for Language please R&R TBH
1. Of Connections & Conversations

Disclaimer: Not mine.

AN: This is going to be a Castle/Shaw, or Cashaw? You know coming up with the name of a ship is a lot harder then it looks. Anyway if you're a hard core Caskett shipper you are not going to like this story, but I ask that you give it a chance. If your like me then you think you're a Caskett shipper until you think about Castle with someone else. That's what happened to me. I was doing research for Fitting in, and I watched tic, tic, tic, and boom like three times. And I was captivated by the Jordan Shaw character, she was smart and sassy and she reminded me of Beckett from Flowers for her grave. It made me think back to first season, you remember first season? Back when the plot lines were less complicated, and the dirty innuendos were flowing free. Before bachelorette 3, and detective Deming. So enough with my rambling, and on to my rambling… that sounded better in my head. What ever, on with the show…

In the middle of Manhattan sat one of the most prestigious prep schools in the country. York Prep. The school had the most technologically advanced program that pushed students to be on the cutting edge of the digital world. They also had the most advanced placement classes available, meaning that if you were driven you could get half of your college credits before you even left high school. In the lavish office on the top floor of the school a stunning red headed mother and daughter sat quietly as the Dean of admissions looked over a thick file. The young girl looked nervous and kept fidgeting with the hem of her black skirt. Sitting next to her, the girls mother looked a lot more calm on the outside, but inside she was a ball of nerves too. The young girl looked at her mother and wondered how she could be so calm, but what she didn't know was that it had taken her mother years as the FBI's top profiler to create the cool under pressure persona. The man behind the big dark wood desk looked up from the file and took off his small, snotty, little gold rimmed glasses.

"I must say you have raised an exceptionally bright young lady Agent Shaw. Kelly's test scores and GPA are off the charts." he said leaning back into his big leather office chair.

"Please call me Jordan, and yes I'm very proud of my daughter. That's why I would like to see her continue her level of advanced paced study at your school." Jordan replied smoothly, flashing a pretty smile.

"Yes she would be a great fit for our school, and because she placed so high on her aptitude tests she is going to be put high on the wait list." he said with a smile.

"Wait list?" Jordan and Kelly asked at the same time.

"Yes, with her scores and GPA I could put her very high on the list. She could get in as soon as next year." Dean Parker said cheerfully.

"But what about the up coming school year?" asked Kelly

"Well you could take a year off and go study abroad, we have a good working relationship with the Moss academy for girls in London, and La pearl school for young ladies in Paris. You could spend some time there and when we have an opening here you could come back. You could also go to another school for a year and transfer in when we have a spot for you." he explained helpfully.

"But if I do that it will kill my plans for my future!" yelled Kelly as she jumped out of her seat. "I had plans to graduate from York in three years. I planned on having my PhD in criminology four years after that. I can't go anywhere else!" Kelly ranted. Jordan stood up from her chair and hugged her daughter.

"We will figure something out sweetie. Just relax, your not helping your self by yelling at the man." Jordan said softly. They sat back down and Jordan apologized for the outburst.

"It's okay, this was not the first time it's happened, and it wont be the last. The problem is there are just too many applicants. Our reputation proceeds us. Every year we get five hundred applicants, and we only have two hundred spots available. As it is I can get you a spot high up on the list. There are only twenty applicants above you. If any of them drop off the list, or decide to go somewhere else we will move you up the list. You are an exceptional girl. Trust me when I say this, we want you to come to our school. We just don't have the room. Your on the list, if you move up the list we will email you. That is all I can do. I'm sorry." he said sincerely.

"Thank you for your honesty. We will look into the other options, and hope for the best. Thank you for taking the time to sit down with us." said Jordan as she stood up and held the door for Kelly.

"Thank you for coming in. Like I said we want to have her at our school. I'll e-mail you if anything happens. Do you need someone the walk you out?" he asked kindly.

"No we'll find our way thank you." said Jordan as she closed the door. She turned around and found Kelly leaning up against the wall in tears. Jordan hugged her tight. "Oh honey we will find a way to get you in. I know you really want to go here but maybe you can take some time off…" Jordan trailed off as Kelly cried harder. Jordan looked up and for the first time since she was kidnapped four months ago, she prayed. She pulled her daughter closer and rubbed her back.

That's when she saw it. Hanging on the wall next to the Dean's door was a framed picture of Dean Parker being presented a huge check for one million dollars by none other then Richard Castle. She looked up one more time and thanked the big guy for sending her, once again, the immature, but oddly charming writer in her time of need. She pulled back from her daughter and smiled as she pointed to the picture. "Baby I think I have a solution to our problem."

Kelly looked at her Mom, and over to the wall with the big picture. "What?" she asked with a hiccup, but her mother who was already walking down the stairs. She ran to catch up to her.

"The man in the picture giving out that big check is Richard Castle, the guy I worked with on the Nikki Heat case. I think I can have him put in a good word for you." she said as she pulled out her iPhone.

As the two women exited the building Jordan was on her phone with her partner "Avery it Shaw I need you to look up a phone number for me… No it's not for a case… No I just need the cell number for Richard Castle… no it's not a joke, stop laughing. Do I have to remind you of who your boss is? Okay how about you look this number up and I won't tell the director that you and your friends down in the tech department tasked an NSA satellite to look at a nude beach… that's what I thought." she said as she scribbled down the number on a piece of paper, and her daughter laughed at the phone conversation her mom was having. Jordan hung up and led Kelly to her dark green 2007 Mustang. She sat down behind the wheel and took a big breath. She then dialed Castle's number…

Richard Castle sat next to Esposito's desk because Tom Demming was sitting in his seat next to Kate's desk. He was telling her something funny and she was giggling and playing with her hair. Esposito sat down at his desk and took one look at Castle, and laughed.

"You do know that looks can't kill, right Castle?" Esposito asked, and Rick jumped.

"I know but I can't say anything to them, not after I gave him the all clear to date her. Besides they've been going out for like three months now." said Rick with a sigh.

"Yeah, I thought you would have stopped coming around when they started going out." replied Esposito as he watched as Tom kissed Kate. He saw Rick flinch out of the corner of his eye.

"you know what? I wouldn't have a problem if she was seeing some random cop from another precinct, because I know it won't last, but this? I have to sit here and look at this everyday. It's just not fair." said Rick with a sad pout. The three months since he gave the all clear had been hard on him. Tom was proving to be a touchy feely person and it was driving him nuts.

"What do you mean it's not going to last?" asked Esposito.

"What?" Rick's brain caught up and he shook his head, "Well because she keeps picking the wrong guy. She thinks she wants the safe, boring guy, but she doesn't. so she keeps falling into these panda relationships." Rick said with a sigh that was drowned out by Kate's laughing.

"Panda?"

"Yeah, Okay lets look at this from the stand point of the train wreck we are looking at now. Kate's a driven cop, her life is the job. She's sheltered emotionally, and she's boring, in life and most likely in bed as well. Although that last one's mostly not her fault. Anyway. She's Ying, now Mr. Wonderful over there is the same way. He's a Ying. Me on the other hand, I'm not driven but I understand that she is, and I can except that I might come second to a murder board. I'm the opposite of sheltered, I'm an extravert. I love talking about my feelings. And I'm fun. I'm a Yang. Me and Kate, Ying Yang, Harmony. Her and him, Ying Ying, and that's the name for a panda. It's also the reason why they've been going out for three months and they've only had sex a handful of times. They're both too into their jobs." Said Rick as if he explained the meaning of life.

"That actually makes sense, but why are you still here?" Esposito asked.

"Actually I'm sticking around for the cases. I like working with you guys to solve murders." Said Rick.

"I thought you stuck around for the books, and Beckett?" Esposito asked.

"No, I've got enough stuff for ten books, and don't tell anyone but I've got two more done already. I'm just taking my time releasing them. No I stuck around for Her, and the cases. After working with you guys for so long I've caught the detective bug. I love working crime scenes and questioning suspects. It's the thrill of the hunt. Finding justice for the victim. No I live for it now." Said Rick with passion.

"Well you might not have a gun and a badge, but you make one hell of a cop. I know you would always have my back bro."

"Thanks man, I appreciate that." said Rick looking a little misty eyed. Both men cleared their throats, and pretended to be busy. Rick's iPhone rang and the number came up as restricted. Rick answered "Castle?"

"Richard, it's Jordan Shaw."

"Jordan, what's up?" He asked confused.

"Well I just came from a meeting with the Dean of York Prep. My daughter Kelly is trying to get in, but he said the best he could do was put her on the wait list. I saw the picture of you on the wall, and I was wondering if you could…" she trailed off not knowing how to phrase her request.

"You want me to see if I can get Walter to move Kelly up the wait list?" he asked trying to be helpful.

"Um, yeah. If you think you could I would be extremely grateful, you know forever in your debt…" she was cut off mid babble by Rick's laugh.

"Absolutely, consider it done. In fact why don't you bring Kelly by the apartment and she can meet Alexis. You know they can talk about the classes and the teaching staff, and whatever teenaged girls talk about these days." Rick said with a laugh.

"Yeah that's a good idea, where do you live?" she asked

"I thought you would already know seeing as you called me on my restricted cell phone, and I know I didn't give you the number." Jordan could hear the smirk over the phone.

"Let's just say the Patriot Act is a fun law and call it even. Now what's your address?" she asked. Kelly smiled, from what she could make out from her side of the conversation, Rick was giving her mom a hard time.

Rick told her his address and told her to be there at seven. When she hung up she turned to her daughter with a big smile. "He's going to talk to the Dean and get you in. They're on a first name bases." Jordan said excitedly.

"That's great mom, where are we going tonight though?" Kelly asked

"We were invited to Dinner at Richard Castle's House to talk about the school and for you to meet his daughter Alexis. She goes to York." said Jordan.

"sounds good mom." said Kelly

Back at Esposito's desk Rick called Alexis.

"HI dad." she answered.

"Hey Pumpkin, I hope your not busy tonight I invited a friend over, and she's bringing her daughter with her. She's going to start at York next year and I thought it would be a good idea if she could talk to you about the school." he said

"No I'm free tonight, in fact I'm headed home right now. Who's coming?" she asked.

"Special agent Jordan Shaw, and her daughter Kelly." he said.

"Isn't she the agent that Kate was jealous of?" asked Alexis with a smirk.

"Yes, she was. But now she has Tom, so I could walk around here in my boxers, singing show tunes, on fire, and she wouldn't care." said Rick bitterly.

"She'll come around sooner, or later. I'm sure of it." she said reassuringly.

Rick looked up to see her and tom play fighting and Kate giggling like a teenager. Rick sighed "I'm finishing up here and I'll start heading home too. See you in a little bit." He replied. As he stood up, he turned to Esposito. "I'm heading home, Jordan Shaw and her Daughter are coming over later so I have to go." he said.

"See you later Bro. tell Jordan I said hi." replied Esposito.

"Will do." he walked to the elevator, and put his phone up to his ear again "Honey I just left the building." he said as he hailed a cab.

"Great, what are we cooking?" she asked.

"Um, good question. I'm not sure. I'll stop by the store on the way home. What should we make?"

"I don't know?" she said as she walked down the stairs to the subway.

"Lets go with Italian, everyone likes it. We'll figure it out. I'll see you in an hour. Bye pumpkin." he said as he got in to the cab.

Back on the forth floor of the 12th precinct Tom kissed Kate and walked away. She got out of her seat and looked around. Esposito was sitting at his desk making phone calls, and Ryan was looking through a stack of files. As her eyes swept the bullpen she saw they where down one man, she walked over to Esposito's desk.

"Where's Castle?" she asked.

"He punched out early today, said he had a date with Shaw." he said absently as he held the receiver of his phone.

"Shaw? As in Agent Shaw?" she asked in what she thought was a flippant way, but failed horribly.

"Yeah, said she was coming over for dinner." He half explained as he tried to hold two conversations at once.

"So let me get this straight, Castle left in the middle of an investigation to have dinner with Jordan Shaw at his house?" She asked in her interrogation voice.

Esposito told the person on the phone to hold on, and put the phone down on his desk. He looked up at Beckett with an expression of inpatients and replied, "Yeah, so?"

"it's just that he never leaves in the middle of an investagation is all." she said as she looked off in to space thinking about the situation.

"Maybe he thought that if you had time to play with your boy toy, he had time to go on a date. Plus it's not like he works here, I mean you're the one that constantly reminds him he's not a cop. Maybe he decided to try being a writer/playboy again?" he finished with a shrug. He picked up his phone but he kept an eye on her as she went back to her desk. She looked lost. _Good maybe that will teach you not to pass all the work off on us while you play_ he thought.

AN: I wrote this while I was trying to finish the last chapter of Fitting In. thanks to the final ep. I lost the narrative thread to that story and I can't find it. After trying to force out chapter 13 for three days my advisor on all things female told: "If you want to write romance watch romantic comedies!" I tried that, and it made it worse. After watching Nick and Norah's Play list, and One Fine Day for the tenth time I started to write this.

It will be a Rick/Jordan story, but Kate will be extremely jealous of them. It should lead to some funny scenes and some big fights. If your a militant Caskett shipper then this is not the story for you. Especially in the first 8 chapter. For the open minded few that are still reading, welcome to what I hope will be a good read. I hope you like it, please R&R. Until next time, TBH


	2. Of friendship & Commiserating

Disclaimer: NOT MINE!

AN: Jordan's husband is explained in this chapter, and I thought we were all under the assumption that she did live in New York. she showed up to the second crime scene, and that was less then 24 hours since the first murder. I don't see her hopping a jet for one killing and I don't think she could have made it to the second crime scene in time if she was in D.C. for the second killing. she also tells her daughter that she's going to help her with her homework in the morning, meaning that she's in the city. in that same sentence she also says she "on her way home now" as she gets into her car. I don't think she was planning to drive to D.C. for a nap. not every FBI agent lives in D.C., I know that the counter terrorism team is stationed in L.A. so why can't Jordan, the top profiler, be stationed in New York? but i see your point. sorry to get all preachy, but i thought every one was on the same page with this. the next chapter is being beta'ed as we speak and i hope to have it up soon. I have 8 chapters of this story done already, it's just taking time to get them looked over. if anyone is interested in beta-ing this story send me a pm please. my beta now take forever. until next time TBH

Chapter 2

Jordan drove by the front of Castle's building and found a parking spot across the street for her second baby, her hunter green 2007 Ford Mustang GT . Both Shaw women chose to wear something nice, it wasn't an every day occurrence to be invited to dinner at a famous author's house. Kelly went with a black skirt and green light sweater. Her mother on the other hand went with a dark green dress that stopped just below the knee and had a deep neck line. Both women decided to wear heels to put then on the right side of the five and a half foot mark. They approached the front door and were intercepted by a hulking huge man in a black suit. The man looked like a linebacker, and Jordan's trained eye's spotted a gun under his jacket. "May I help you?" he asked in a deep rumbling voice.

"Special agent Jordan Shaw," Jordan said as she flashed her badge, "we're here to see Richard Castle. He's expecting us." she said with a smile holding up the bottle of red wine she was carrying.

The man looked through a book and nodded. "Yes you're on the list, sorry about that agent Shaw, but this is a secure building." he said with a smile.

"That's quite alright." Jordan said as the man walked them to the elevator, and pressed the number four button.

"Mr. Castle lives in unit 4A. Have a nice evening." he said as the doors closed.

Upstairs Rick Castle was standing in front of the stove watching his bowtie pasta cook, while stirring his cream sauce. Alexis was upstairs getting dressed. The radio was on and Rick was singing along to a song when he heard a knock at the front door. He moved his sauce off the burner and wiped his hands on a towel hanging off the front of his apron as he walked to the door. When he opened the door his jaw fell open, he didn't remember Jordan looking this good four month ago.

"You going to let us in or what?" asked Jordan with a smirk.

"Right! Sorry got lost for a second there, come in, come in. Have a seat at the bar dinners almost ready. I hope you guys aren't vegetarians?" he asked as he took Jordan's light jacket and hung it up.

"No we like meat." said Kelly. Jordan handed Rick the bottle of wine, and he took it into the kitchen with him. Alexis came down the stairs in a green skirt and a red t-shirt. She walked over to the two women and held out her hand.

"Hi I'm Alexis." she said with a smile, as she shook hands. She then walked around the counter to look inside the oven. The smell of fresh garlic hit the two guests like a wall.

"Can I get you ladies anything to drink?" asked Rick as he uncorked the bottle.

"I'll take a glass." Jordan said as she took a seat at the counter.

"What about you Kelly?" he asked as he handed Jordan her glass.

"Um, what do you have?" she asked shyly.

Alexis pulled open the refrigerator to show her the shelves full of sodas. "Just about everything, my dad enjoys a glass of wine, but I'm a cynosure of fine sodas" she said with a flourish that had Kelly giggling. "Do you like Orange soda?" she asked.

"Yes" Kelly managed to stop laughing.

"Then you have to try this one." she said as she got out a glass bottle and a tall glass, and put them on the bar in front of Kelly. "it's made by a specialty company that only makes orange soda. it's the best in the world"

"The best in the world?" Kelly asked as she poured it into her glass. Then she took a sip. "WOW, this is good." she said.

"I told you. The best in the world." Alexis said as she turned around to check her dad's pasta.

"So what are you cooking Rick?" asked Jordan with a smile. As she saw it was a team effort to pull together the meal. Rick and Alexis acted a lot like her and Kelly. It was fun to watch.

"I'm making a fresh tossed salad for starter. Then garlic stuffed, and baked chicken breast, over bowtie pasta with a broccoli cream sauce for the mane course. And for dessert I picked up a raspberry cheese cake. He said as he drained the noodles.

"Wow, you can cook all that?" asked Jordan, still impressed by the menu even though she knew he had help from his daughter.

"Yeah, cooking is my second talent." he said.

They took the dishes to the table, and when everyone had a full plate, Rick cleared his throat. "since I know that Kelly here is probably chomping at the bit to know if she got into York, so…" Rick paused and Kelly literally was sitting on the edge of her seat. Alexis reached over and smacked her dad on the arm.

"That's not nice dad just tell her she got in already." Alexis said in a long suffering voice.

"Well I called Walter and told him your mom was a friend of mine, and I asked about the wait list situation and he said that you were off the list and on the Fall roster." he said flippantly. Kelly was out of her seat and shrieked like only a teenage girl could. She ran around the table and hugged her mom. She then continued around the table and hugged Rick. She made a full circuit and finished her hugging massacre with Alexis. She sat back down in her seat and was smiling so big she forgot to eat.

"Why don't you try the meal our host prepared for us?" Jordan asked her daughter with a smirk.

Kelly blushed red and stammered out, "Um, yeah. Sorry about that. Um the chicken is really good Mr. Castle."

"Call me Rick. Mr. Castle makes me sound like an old man." replied Rick with a smile.

For the rest of the meal the conversation flowed smoothly between the four of them. After they had dessert. The girls moved there talk upstairs to Alexis' room, and Rick and Jordan moved to the living room with their coffee. They sat there sipping their coffee for a few minutes when Jordan turned to Rick.

"Okay now that my daughter is out of the room you can tell me the truth. How did that conversation with the dean really go?" she asked with a smile.

"Just like I said it did. Kelly is a gifted girl, and Walter was happy to let her in." he said with his charming smile.

"You can lay off the story. I interrogate serial killers for a living, I can spot a lie. I also know that the dean was not budging on the wait list. So I want to know how much you bribed him to get my little girl in so I can pay you back." she said to him with the same smile he gave her.

Rick turned his smile into a smirk. "Nothing. I just told him that Kelly was like my niece and if he didn't let her in, I would pull Alexis and spread the word around to the other parents that I thought the school wasn't good enough for my family." he said with a smirk. Jordan laughed at how devious he was.

"Richard that's mean, but I'm touched that you did that. I don't know how to repay you." said Jordan.

"You owe me nothing. The hug I got from Kelly was enough. I'm glad I could help, and I can see that she really wants to attend York." replied Rick waving her off.

"You have no idea how much Kelly wants to go to York. It's her dream to get her PhD in criminology faster then I did and she wants to be an FBI profiler like me. I wanted her to attend York hoping that she'll be exposed to a vast range of subjects and find something else to do with her life. It's bad enough that I risk my life as an agent, the last thing I want is her doing the same thing." she explained.

"I wouldn't worry about that. Kelly is young, my mother told me that teenaged girls try on personalities like they do clothes. This week she want's to be a FBI agent, next week she'll want to be a judge, the week after that a writer. Alexis was the same way. She wanted to be an actor like her mother, then she wanted to be a civil liberties lawyer. Now she wants to study literature. By the time she graduates from college, who knows what she'll do?" he said with a shrug. "Were you like that as a kid?" he asked.

"I guess, I've always been good at puzzles, and I wanted to help people. So I thought about becoming a cop, or a lawyer. I was taking classes in justice studies and one of my professors talked to me about joining the FBI. I was recruited to Quantico six months later, and made full field agent a year and a half after that. Were you like that as a kid?" Jordan asked taking a sip from her coffee cup.

"Kind of, I grew up watching a lot of TV so I wanted to do the cool jobs. I wanted to be a Control agent like Maxwell Smart. Until I found out there was no Control. Then I wanted to be a doctor like the guys on soap operas my nannies used to watch. Until I found out that I had to cut people open, and that it would take a lot of school. Then I wanted to be a detective Like Jim Rockford, but I was going out with Meredith, and she ended up pregnant. So I started teaching at a local high school to pay the bills. When I saw how much money I could make writing books I never thought about doing anything else. I guess working with Beckett on cases has let me experience what I missed out on by not going to the academy." he said with a shrug.

"Speaking of detective Beckett. I thought I might be seeing her tonight. The last time we saw each other she was staying here. I thought by now you two would be at it like bunnies." she said with a laugh.

"No, she found a place the week after the case, and now she's, well lets just say that a robbery detective is investigating her crime scene now." he said as he tossed back the last of his coffee and looked down at his cup. "I need something stronger then this." he said as he stood up and walked over to the liquor cabinet. He held up a tumbler and a bottle of Johnny Walker Black label. "Want some?" he asked.

"No I'm driving." she waved him off. he poured himself a drink and sat back down.

"So we talked about why Beckett's not here, but I expected to meet your husband. Why didn't you bring him?" he asked.

"I didn't bring him because, my Ex-husband, is probably… lets say working on his young secretary dotting her T's and making her eye's crossed." she said as she looked at his drink longingly. Rick handed her his glass and got up to make another.

"When did this happen? I know you didn't have a ring on during the case, but I remember you saying your were married." he asked as he put the bottle on the coffee table, and sat back down.

"I was, after the kidnapping he said he couldn't "live the lie of our marriage" she said with air quotes, as she took a swig of her scotch. "He kicked us out the next day." she said with a shrug.

"where are you guy's staying now?" he asked feeling sorry for her, he had been on her end of a divorce before, twice. So he knew her pain.

"I found a nice two bedroom apartment. It's not too far from York and it's only a twenty minute commute to the New York FBI field office." she said with a shrug.

Upstairs the girls were talking about the school and boys, and clothes and boys, and music and boys… you get the point.

Alexis was sitting at her desk in front of her laptop showing Kelly, who was sitting in a red butterfly chair next to Alexis, the new songs she downloaded.

"I love OkGo they're just so much fun to listen to. All of there songs are upbeat and fun." said Alexis.

"I like them, but I prefer something a little more poppy, you know?" said Kelly.

"I know what you mean. I also listen to a lot of the classics because I play the violin." said Alexis pointing at the case sitting on her bed.

"That's cool, I always wanted to play an instrument, but I could never find one that fit me." Said Kelly with a shrug.

"I was like that until I picked up a violin. It just fit right. Now I love playing, and my tutor is a super hotty." she finished with a giggle. The two girls joked around for awhile. "I'm going to get a bottle of water, do you want one?" Alexis asked as she stood up.

"Sure, I'll come with." Kelly said as she stood up too. The two girls made their way to the kitchen when they saw the respective parents sitting on the couch tossing back scotch. The two girls walked over to the adults. "What are you guys talking about?" asked Kelly

"Nothing much?" said Rick.

"I see you guys are also doing a little drinking." said Alexis.

"Just a little." said Jordan with a slur. The two girls saw that Jordan had taken her shoes off and had her feet on the coffee table. Rick too had shed his tie and shoes.

"Well we're going to head back upstairs now." said Alexis. The two girls went back up to Alexis' room. "Wow I wonder what they're talking about. Dad only hit's the scotch after talking to mom." said Alexis.

"I think they were talking about my mom and dad getting a divorce. Mom likes to have a martini when she thinks about how dad cheated on her with his secretary." Said Kelly looking a little misty eyed. Alexis hugged her new best friend.

"I know what it's like to be a child of divorce. Were you close to your dad?" Alexis asked.

"I guess. He was always working, but so was mom. I was mostly raised by my grandmother. I spent more time with my dad but I was always closer to my mom. I guess the problem was my dad is a lawyer. He has a very shallow attitude, and he was very selfish. He never really cared about how I was doing in school, or helped me with my homework." Kelly said softly as a few tears fell down.

"That's terrible, my dad is the total opposite. He is super affectionate, and he loves to hear about my day. He took me to the park all the time when I was little." said Alexis. She was very thankful that her dad was so great.

"I wish my dad was like yours." Said Kelly. The two girls talked for another hour when Kelly yawned. "Man I'm tiered." she said

Alexis looked down at her watch and saw it was approaching midnight. "It's good that we're out of school, but does your mom have work tomorrow?"

"Yes. She teaches a Master class on profiling in the afternoon five days a week to junior field agents." Kelly said.

"Lets go see how there doing." Said Alexis. The two girls went downstairs to see the there two parents had finished off half a bottle of scotch.

"Mom we have to go home, you have to teach a class tomorrow." said Kelly.

"Okay honey, lets go." slurred Jordan, she stood up on unsteady legs and fell back down on the couch with a laugh.

"I don't think you guy's are going anywhere tonight. We have a guest bed room with a king size bed. You two can sleep in there, and in the morning we can get your mom up for work . You said her class starts at noon, right?" asked Alexis.

"Yeah, I guess that's the best plan. There is no way she is driving tonight, I don't even think she can make it up to the guest bedroom." said Kelly.

"Lets help her upstairs and I'll steal one of my dad's T-shirts. I'll lone you some PJ's too."

The two girls helped Jordan up the stairs and dropped her on the big bed. Alexis told Kelly to help her mom out of her dress, while she got the shirt. When Alexis came back Jordan was down to her black underwear.

"Wow, how old is your mom?" asked Alexis.

"39, why" asked Kelly.

"She's a total hotty. I hope I look that good a 39." said Alexis.

"It's the Agent's training regiment. It keeps you fit and toned." Said Kelly. Alexis tossed the big t-shirt over the woman's head. They tucked her in and she turned around and passed out.

"In my room the top drawer of my dresser has my PJ's, find a set and I'll get my dad up to bed." said Alexis. The two girls split up. Kelly went across the hall to Alexis' room and Alexis went down stairs to find her dad spralled out half asleep on the couch. "Come on dad go up to bed." said Alexis as she shook her dad. He woke up and rolled off the couch. She led him up to his room and he dropped his jeans and fell into bed. She shut his door and went to check on Kelly. She found the girl sitting on her bed, and was embarrassed to see that Kelly found her Disany Princesses PJ's. "I see you found my most embarrassing PJ's, good job." Said Alexis with a laugh.

"I like princesses." defended Kelly.

"So what are you doing tomorrow?" asked Alexis as she found a set of green PJ's and walked into her adjoining bathroom to put them on.

"I have nothing planned." Kelly said.

"If you have nothing to do tomorrow lets go shopping. I'll swipe my dad's black card and we'll hit Macy's, and some other places." Said Alexis as she stepped out of the bathroom.

"Sounds good to me." said Kelly as she got up to leave the room.

"Good night Kelly." said Alexis as she turnd off the light by her bed.

"Good night Alexis." said Kelly as she left the room she went into the guest bedroom and saw her mother had rolled to the middle of the bed, but it was so huge there was still way enough room for her to sleep comfortably. Kelly slid under the soft covers and turn out the light. Today was a good day if you asked her. She got into the school of her dreams, and she made a new friend. Yes, life was good for Kelly Shaw.

AN: Before I get PM's, I know that Dana Delany is in her 50's, but for the story I'm making her just as old as Rick. Plus she looks good for her age, hell she looks good for a women half her age, have you seen her lags? But I digress. The next chapter is going to be fun. Until next time, TBH


	3. Of seeing Green & Red

**Disclaimer: NOT MINE!**

**Chapter 3**

**Of seeing Green & Red**

**Kate drove to Castle's place to pick him up. There was a pop and drop about ten blocks from his house with a similar MO to the pop and drop they were working right now. She hoped they were connected, it would give them twice the amount of evidence to work with, and maybe they would catch the guy. Kate hated pop and drops. It meant that someone killed someone and moved the body to another location. It also meant there was almost no evidence to work with. But as Kate turned on to his street the last thing on her mind was the dead guy. **

**No , Kate was thinking about last night. She had a date with Tom. He took her out to a nice restaurant, and they had an easy conversation, until Tom mentioned Castle. She couldn't remember the exact thing Tom said but it got her thinking about him. After that moment she was distracted, and the conversation flowed like mud. All she could think about was what Castle was doing on his date with Jordan. After dinner they went back to her place to watch a movie. **

**The romantic comedy provided Kate with a distraction to her distraction, and before she knew it they were fooling around on her couch. Tom was a good kisser, and they were going at it pretty hot and heavy. Her shirt and bra were off. His shirt was off and his pants was half undone. She was kissing him hard, biting his lower lip and fisting her hands in his hair. **

**He pulled back and said "wow Kate your amazing." but that only brought her train of thought back to Castle for some reason. Was he doing the same thing with Jordan? Was he as good a kisser as Tom was? Did Jordan fight to be on top like she did? Did Castle think Jordan was hotter then her? Did he go out with Jordan to make her jealous? Because it was working god dam it! Why the hell did he have to go out with the one woman she felt threatened by the most? **

**The words Federal Heat flashed through Kate's head next. Then the images of them building theory together. The images of him at her apartment that night basically telling her that he was not having mind sex with another woman in front of her. A slide show of how much better Jordan looked compared to her flashed through her head next, and she felt betrayed by her own brain. She had admitted the other woman was pretty, but her own brain pointed out not only Jordan's bigger chest, but also Kate's lack of one. She felt so turned off at that moment she all but gave up on the nights activities. Tom noticed. **

"**Was it something I said?" he asked when the passion died down to the point where he felt like he was kissing a corpse. **

"**No, I'm just distracted by a case" she used that lie for two reasons. The first reason was she couldn't say "I'm distracted by the thought that Castle is doing the same thing with Jordan fucking Shaw." the second reason was that Tom had used the same line when she caught him looking at there hot waitress last week. **

**She saw that he made the connection. "Is this about the blond waitress last week?" he asked with annoyance. **

"**So you admit to checking out the blond?" she shot back covering her breasts with her forearm as she stood up and found her shirt. **

"**No, but I think your trying to make me suffer for something I didn't even do. I told you the girl looked like the dead woman we found at the home invasion robbery I was working last week." the waitress had looked a lot like the dead girl he thought. **

**She found her shirt and slipped it back over her head. "I just need you to leave now. I'm too distracted by my case to continue tonight. I'm sorry Tom. I just need time to think." she said as she opened the door to her apartment. **

"**you know what Kate? Take all the time you need." He said as he buttoned his shirt angrily. He stormed out of her apartment, and Kate shut the door. She then spent the whole night thinking about Castle with Jordan. She didn't know why she was so upset about it. She had seen Castle with other women before, beautiful women, models, and actresses. It bothered her a little bit, but she was never this out of it. She spent most of the night trying to figure out what it was about Jordan that had her out of it so much. Even now as she was stepping onto the elevator of his apartment building she was still baffled by why she was so out of it over Castle dating Jordan Shaw.**

**Jordan Shaw prided her self on many things. She was a good Agent. She was a good mother. She was a smart woman, and she had the looks of a thirty year old even though she was approaching forty. But the one thing she hated about her self was that she was a blackout drunk. If she had more than one drink she forgot the nigh before. So when she woke up in a big bed that wasn't hers, and wearing nothing but a huge t-shirt, and her underwear the first thought she had was: I slept with Richard Castle. **

**She closed her eyes, and buried he head under the pillows. She felt ashamed, not that she had sex with Richard. She was a single woman after all, and he was a good looking single guy. No she was afraid that she made an ass of herself in front of her daughter. She looked down at her watch and saw it was close to ten. She sighed and got out of bed. She looked at her self in the mirror, and sighed again. She looked like a mess. Her makeup was smeared, her hair looked like a red birds nest, and she was wearing a big green t-shirt that came down to mid thigh. She combed her fingers through her hair and decided to face the music. When she walked down stairs she saw Kelly and Alexis sitting in the front room watching TV, and Rick in the kitchen making pancakes. She walked up to Rick. He turned around and smiled at her. She blushed bright red. **

"**Rick can I ask you something?" she asked softly looking back and fort between him and her daughter. **

"**sure." he said just as softly with a smirk. **

"**Did we… um did we have, um, you and me…" she mumbled out. **

**Rick looked confused for a second then he laughed. "No, we didn't. we shared a half of a bottle of scotch, and the girls helped you up to bed. You did share a bed with Kelly though so lets hope you kept your hands to your self, but besides that nothing happened." he said reassuringly. **

"**Oh thank god." she said with relief.**

"**Hey what's that supposed to mean. I feel insulted." he said with a pout. **

"**It has nothing to do with you, and everything to do with the fact that my daughter was with me. I thought I scarred my little girl for life by throwing my self at you last night. Trust me if she wasn't here last night…." she put a hand up to her mouth and blushed harder. Rick's smile became a smirk. "I can't believe I just said that." she whispered. **

"**I am honored, and humbled to be on your list of guys you might throw your self at. You are a stunningly beautiful woman, Jordan." he said. As if defying the laws of nature Jordan blushed harder. Seeing that he was making her that red he decided to toss in a joke. "Well you were last night, now you look more cute than sexy with your hair like that." she smacked him and laughed. The girls came over to see what was so funny. Kelly took one look at her mom's hair and laughed.**

"**I know I look funny. Now stop laughing." said Jordan as she tried to fix her hair with her hands, but it ended up looking worse. Rick went back to flipping pancakes and the women all sat at the bar. The girls tried to make Jordan's hair look less funny. They gave up when it looked more like bed head then a birds nest. **

"**Hey mom, can I go shopping with Alexis today?" Kelly asked. **

"**Um, yeah I guess. Do you have money for the trip?" asked Jordan as she looked at her refection in her butter knife. **

"**Yes, but Alexis said she's paying with her dad's black card." said Kelly. Rick turned around after hearing that. **

"**You lifted my black card?" he asked. **

"**Yes, I took it out of your wallet last night." Alexis said with a smirk. **

"**That's my girl." Rick said with a look of pride as he went back to the cooking. The Shaw women laughed. They all sat down at the counter and had pancakes and eggs. Then the girls went upstairs to get ready so that Jordan could drop them off at the mall before she went in to work. She had a set of clothes in her office, and she was going to shower at the gym after her quick work out. **

**Rick was doing the dishes when there was a knock at the door. Rick looked up at Jordan. "can you go get that I'm all soap." he asked. **

**She shrugged and put on the robe her daughter left down stairs. She walked to the door and saw it was Kate. She got an evil thought, and decided to run with it. She took off the robe and turned around to make sure Rick wasn't looking. She shucked his shirt and put the robe back on but left it open enough for Kate to see she had very little on underneath it. She put on a big dumb smile, and opened the door. **

**Kate knocked and waited for Rick to open the door. She was still thinking hard so she didn't think about how much time it was taking for Rick to get the door. When the door was flung open the first thing she saw was a white robe. The next thing she saw was a sexy black lace bra, struggling to hold back a generous offering of flesh. She looked up and the last thing she saw was quite literally the last thing she wanted to see. Jordan Shaw was standing in Castle's door way in a robe and skimpy underwear like she belonged their. Kate faked a smile. "Hello Agent Shaw, is Castle around?" she asked like it was taking everything she had to act civil and not to kill the woman in front of her.**

"**Yes he's just washing up. We made quite a mess this morning." Said Jordan flippantly. **

**Kate kept her smile up but, her eye's took on a deadly glint. "Could you tell him we have to go, there was another murder, and we have to look over the crime scene." she asked with a deadly edge. Jordan raised one eyebrow. "Please" added Kate in a tone that was so cold it made the temperature in the room fall five degrees. **

**Rick picked that moment to come up behind Jordan wiping his hands on a kitchen towel. "Hey Detective Beckett. You just missed breakfast. Jordan why are you half naked?" he asked as he looked down and was treated to a great view. **

"**I thought it was funny to show Detective Beckett here what the color green feels like." said Jordan. She smirked at Kate and walked off. Rick was lost but after the show he got he didn't really care. Kate shook her head and glared at Rick. **

"**There was a pop and drop with the same MO, the boys think it's connected to our case, we have to go look over the crime scene. Are you coming?" she asked in a huff. **

"**Yeah let me just get dress real quick." he said as he wandered off into the apartment. A few minutes later Jordan came down the stairs with the girls, she was in her dress from last night. She had washed her face and brushed her hair out and she looked almost as good as she did the night before. She led the girls out of the apartment and waved goodbye to Kate, but Kate just gave her a withering glare. When the women got on to the elevator Kelly asked Alexis who the angry woman was. **

"**That was detective Beckett, she works with my dad. As for why she was so mad? I have no idea." said Alexis with a little shrug. **

"**That would be my doing. She spends all day parading her new man around in front of your dad making his life a living hell so I thought I would do the same thing. When she knocked on the door your dad asked me to get it and when I saw it was her I decided to give her a taste of what the green monster of jealousy looks like. So I took off the big t-shirt and answered the door in my underwear and a half opened robe." Jordan explained flippantly. Alexis started to laugh uncontrollably, and Kelly yelled "MoooomM!" all three women were laughing when they got into Jordan's car. **

"**I can't believe you did that mom. I am so ashamed." said Kelly in mortification. **

"**Not me I want to know what she said." asked Alexis. **

"**Oh, she tried to act like it was nothing for me to be their. She asked for your father, and I told her that he was washing up, and hinted that we had morning … you know" Jordan finished just now realizing that maybe this conversation was not the best one to be having with her daughter and her friend. She really spent too much time around guys. **

"**That was so cool. Maybe now she'll notice my dad. I feel so bad for him. He spent all this time chasing after Kate and then she shacks up with some other cop. I'm starting to think my dad would be better off with someone else." said Alexis. **

**Back upstairs Rick walked out of his apartment, and found Kate Beckett mean mugging him. "What did I do Now?" he asked. He was getting really tired of her attitude.**

"**You slept with Shaw!" she said in a huff as they stepped off the elevator. **

"**First of all, no I didn't. second what does it matter to you? Are you going to sit there and tell me that you didn't get lucky last night?" he asked accusatorily as he got into her car. **

"**No I did not." she said defensively. **

"**Okay then maybe you should have, you would have been less grumpy this morning. What's the matter Tom's gun firing blanks?" he asked smugly. **

"**For your information his gun is fine, I was just too wrapped up in the case to think about anything else. Something you obviously didn't have to think about on your date." she said as she violently maneuvered around cars and people. **

"**You're the one that's always reminding me I'm not a cop, so why should I care about a pop, and drop for?" he asked "in fact why were you thinking about it last night?"**

"**What?" she faked not hearing him so she could come up with a story. **

"**I asked you why you're so into this case? The only thing interesting about it is the missing finger." he said. **

"**Um, every body disserves our full attention?" she said weakly as she put the car in park in front of the police tape. **

"**Is that why you pushed all of the grunt work off on the guys so you could play high school sweethearts with your cop boyfriend?" he asked sarcastically, but she kept walking like she didn't hear him. They walked up to the dead body and the guys came over to let them in on the facts. **

"**We have another pop and drop with a missing thumb. The vic.'s name is Michale Kessler." said Esposito. **

"**Kessler like the invesment company?" asked Rick as he bent down to get a look at the guy. **

"**One in the same, your looking at the fifth richest guy in Manhattan." said Ryan. **

"**wasn't the other vic. The owner of a tech company?" asked Castle.**

"**Yeah, Steven Hadley. He owned Hadley Tech inc. they make the mother boards for those little computers. **

"**So we have two rich pop and drops with missing thumbs… As much as I hate to say it we might have to call in your boy toy Beckett." Rick said as he looked at his thumb. **

"**Why, so you can make fun of him some more?" she said sarcastically. **

"**No because there is going to be a bank robbry soon and I think we should let some one in robbry know." he shot back and walked away. **

"**What the hell is going on between those two?" Ryan asked his partner. Esposito just shrugged. **


	4. Of pissing contests & planning sessions

Chapter 4

Of pissing contests & planning sessions

Kate sat at her desk, and watched the pissing contest taking place in front of her. When they got back to the precinct she called Tom and asked him to come upstairs. When he stepped off the elevator he was all smiles until he saw Castle. He walked up to Kate and gave her a kiss.

"That happened faster then I thought, I didn't expect to hear from you for a few days." Tom said softly.

"While I like where this is going, I called you up here because Castle thinks there's going to be a robbery soon." she told him. He turned around, and found Castle sitting next to Esposito's desk giving him a look like he just swallowed a bug.

"What do you want Castle?" Tom asked impatiently.

"Well we have two rich guys gunned down with their thumbs missing. I don't know if you know this, but some high end banks use thumb print scanners instead of keys to open safety deposit boxes." Castle said.

"So from those two facts you think there's going to be a bank robbery. It seems a little flimsy to me Castle." Tom said in a patronizing tone.

"Do you have a better theory Deming?" Rick shot back in the same tone.

"Yeah, how about there's a guy out there that likes to kill annoying rich assholes, and take their thumbs." Tom said in a threatening tone as he advanced on Castle.

"I'm right here Shleming. Take your best shot!" Rick said in the same tone as he shot out of his chair and walked the last few steps so that he was eye to eye with Tom.

"Okay lets cool off before you get hurt Castle." Kate said as she stood up from her desk. The last thing she needed was for Castle to get his ass kicked. Then the captain would be on her case for letting Tom beat him up.

"It's okay Beckett I won't hurt your boy toy too much." Rick said not taking his eye's off Tom for a second.

"It's not him I'm worried about Castle." she said as she walked over to the two men. Castle looked at Beckett and saw she had no confidence in him at all. His eye's took on a hard glint, and he clinched his jaw. _Lets see what she thinks about this then, _he thought.

"Do it, I know you want to. You want to prove your dominance, go for it pretty boy. Show me some of that cop training. Take out the wimpy writer monkey." Rick said. Tom's jaw clinched and his right hand balled up and before anyone could stop him Tom threw a right hook. What they weren't prepared for, was how Castle reacted.

Rick's left forearm shot up and intercepted the punch. He then rolled in to Tom and brought his right elbow up into the detective's jaw stunning the man. Rick continued the move by kneeing Tom in the stomach making him double over. He then finished the move by bringing his right elbow down on the back of Tom's head knocking the cop out instantly. It was over in a second, from the time of Deming's punch to the robbery detective hitting the ground. Rick took a step back, and picked up his jacket off the back of his chair. Kate dropped to the floor to check on her boyfriend. Rick put on his jacket as he walked to the elevator. Esposito ran after him and jumped on to the elevator as the doors were closing.

Rick put up his hands, but Esposito stepped back. "What was that back there?" he asked Rick.

"Krav Maga. It's Israeli Mosaad fighting techniques." said Rick with a shrug.

"Man I didn't know you could do that." Esposito said.

"No one does, that's why it's effective. The biggest weapon is surprise. I knew he was just looking for a reason to lay me out. He has been for days now. I can see it in his eye's. Listen one of two things are going to happen tonight. 1. There's going to be another rich guy pop and drop, or 2. A high end bank is going to be hit. I hope you guys find the crew that's doing this." Rick said as the two men walked out of the building.

"What? Your not going to help us find the guys?" Esposito asked as Rick walked away from the precinct.

"Are you crazy? I just knocked out a cop in a police precinct. I'm never coming back here again. I'll see you around, it was nice working with you." Rick said as he hailed a cab and got in. Esposito stood shocked in the street watching the cab drive away with his partner in it. He never thought Castle would leave like this. He shook his head, "All this over a woman. What ever happened to bro's before ho's?" he mumbled as he walked back inside the building.

Alexis and Kelly sat in a Thai restaurant a few blocks away from Macy's. The two girls were sharing three entrées and talking when Alexis' phone rang.

"Hello?" she answered.

"Alexis, this is Esposito, your dad just laid out detective Deming, and left the precinct. I think you need to talk to him." he said softly.

"Oh, man is dad going to be in trouble for hitting an officer?" She asked.

"No I filed it under self-defense already, so Deming can't do anything." he reassured her.

"Thank you so much detective, but I mean is he going to be in trouble with other cops." she asked.

Esposito laughed. "No, half of the cops in the building think of him as a cop, and the other half will be told that Deming started it. Your dad said the same thing though. He thinks that everyone with a badge is out to get him. When you talk to him you tell him that me and Ryan got his back and that he should come back to work when he's up to it. Your dad is quickly becoming the best cop at the twelfth. Tell him that I also have some guys from robbery watching the top five banks in the city." he told her.

"Okay let me take some of this down. You and Ryan are telling everyone that Deming started the fight. You want him to come back when he's up to it, and you have guys watching the banks." She ticked off the things she wrote down on her napkin.

"You got it, also tell him I'll keep him in the loop if there's another pop and drop."

"Will do detective. I'll make sure he gets the message." said Alexis.

"Thanks Lex, you're being a big help. I'll see you around." he hung up.

"What was that all about?" Kelly asked.

"My dad provoked the guy going out with Beckett in to a fight, and then knocked him out. He then ran out of the station. I have to call him." Alexis said as she dialed her dad's number.

"Castle." he answered

"Dad you provoked Deming into a fight?" she asked in a disapproving voice.

"He started it!" he said.

"Very mature dad." She said with a long suffering sigh.

"Hey, how did you find out anyway?" he asked.

"Detective Esposito called me and told me to give you some messages. First he said that he and Ryan filed the report as a self defense. So your not in any legal trouble. Next he said that they spread the word that Deming started it and you finished it. So there is no cop trouble. Next he said that you are to come back to work when you feel like it, seeing as your becoming the best detective in the precinct. His words, not mine." she said with pride.

"He said that?" he asked excitedly.

"Yep. He also said that he has cops stationed outside of the top banks in the city. Also he said he'd call you if there was another pop and something." she said.

"Pop and drop. It means someone killed some body and dropped them somewhere else. It makes it harder to find evidence and the guy that did it. So the boys are backing me up. I have to do something nice for them."

"Dad where are you?" she asked as she herd the clinking of glasses in the background.

"I'm held up at a pub. I didn't want to go home in case they put out a warrant for my arrest." he said.

"Well don't drink too much, and make sure you eat something." she said

"Yes mom." he said

"Not funny, and we're going to talk about the fight when I get home." she said in a disapproving tone.

"Okay pumpkin. See you later." he said

"bye dad." she hung up. "I swear some days I feel like the parent." she said to Kelly as she put her phone away.

"I think your dad is super cool. I wish my dad was like that." Kelly said.

"I don't know some days I just wish he would act half his age. He raised me from diapers but for some reason I'm going to have to raise him for the rest of my life." Alexis said.

"I would trade you my dad for your's" Kelly said with a laugh.

"Never. He may be immature but he's the best. I love him dearly." Alexis said.

"I still don't get why he beat up that cop though?" Kelly said.

"Because he's in love with detective Beckett, and that cop is going out with her." Alexis said as she paid the check.

"Oh, that's so sad. Your dad is a great guy, why is she with this other cop for?" Kelly asked.

"I have no idea, but it is sad. He loves her. She loves Deming, but she's super jealous of dad. It's complicated." Alexis said as they walked down the street window shopping.

"I don't think she's all that hot, but then again I've only seen her angry face… anyways, Why is your dad in love with her?" Kelly asked as they stepped in to a shoe store.

"I have no clue. I mean she's a great detective, and she's super smart." Alexis said as she looked at a pair of black boots.

"She let your dad get away, she don't sound too smart to me." Kelly said with a laugh.

"I think it has a lot to do with them working together. You know like Stockholm's syndrome." joked Alexis.

"Maybe he should date my mom. She's a great detective, and she's super smart, and my mom's a total hotty." Kelly said holding up a pair of red pumps. Alexis looked at them and shook her head no.

"You know what? That's a good idea. I like your mom, she's like a hotter Beckett. " Alexis said.

"But how would we do that?" Kelly asked seriously.

"Um, well we could, no… we can't um. How about…no. You know being sneaky is a lot harder than I thought. I know, I'll call gram, she'll know what to do. She's in L.A. shooting a lifetime movie." the two girls brought there boxes up to the front and Alexis swiped her dads card. The two girls then went across the street to the Starbucks and got iced coffee's and sat at one of the tables in the back. Alexis called her gram.

"Your on with Martha Rodgers." she answered.

"Gram it's me Alexis."

"Hey kiddo what's cooking?" Martha asked.

"Oh, Gram since you've been gone things have been getting worse with dad and Beckett. And now dad beat up Deming and Jordan needed a favor and Kate got jealous and…" Alexis was interrupted by Martha.

"Hold up kiddo, start from the beginning. I've been gone for two months what happened since I've been gone." Martha said.

"Okay the weekend after you left dad came home and said he saw Kate leave with Tom Deming for the weekend. Then…" Alexis told Martha everything. From Rick having to watch the Kate and Tom show everyday, and how Jordan asked for help for Kelly. About the dinner, and them sleeping over. How Jordan answered the door. How Rick knocked Deming out. She finished with the plan. "Gram, Kelly and I, think that Her mom and my dad would be a good match. The problem is how do we get them together?" Alexis asked.

"Well start by doing what your doing now, make a game plan. You two have to be on the same page at all times. If you two don't see each other for a few days you should still be able to have your parents bump into each other in the market. And that's how you have to do it. Make a plan look at your calendars, and set out dates. On these dates you guys set events. It shouldn't be too hard, they're two good looking single people. My guess is this shouldn't take more then a week or two. Now to the planning, start with something small.

For example, tomorrow is Friday. Alexis your dad is hurting right now so be a good daughter and drag him to the movie theater. Kelly you're a child of divorce, guilt your mom into taking you to go see a movie. When you get there bump into each other in the lobby. Then you girls work out a script. 'We came to see so and so' 'funny because we came to see so and so too, we should sit together' then you girls sit next to each other. The problem is both of your parents are smart. So keep changing the story, and the location." Martha explained.

"Wow gram, your really good at this stuff." said Alexis.

"I'm happy to help kiddo. I'll talk to you later. Call me with an update soon." Martha said.

"I will Gram, I'll talk to you later." said Alexis as she hung up the phone, and pulled out a small, green, mole skin calendar. She looked up and saw Kelly pull out the same thing but in black. They both laughed, but Alexis got serious. "Okay I think we should do what Gram said about the movie tomorrow. Lets say the seven o'clock showing at the Cineplex on tenth." said Alexis.

"Okay, what's playing?" asked Kelly. Alexis pulled out her iPhone and looked up show times.

"Oh, perfect. Toy Story 3 is playing there, and it starts at 7:15. So if we meet up in the lobby at seven we can bump into each other. Then after that we can go out to a late dinner." said Alexis.

"Great, okay on to the next meet…" Kelly said as she wrote down the movie meet in the calendar.

AN: I love the firing range scene, so I wanted to give Rick a few more tricks up his sleeve. Well that and I've been hoping for Rick to kick Tom's ass for the last three weeks now and this was my chance to see it happen. If you've never seen Krav maga before there are some video's on you tube of people doing it you should check it out, it's awesome. It's all about fast and violent strikes.

I hope to have the next chapter up soon, it's the accidental meetings, and the fluffy Rick and Jordan story line stuff. Until next time, TBH


	5. Of Conspiracy & Conversation

Chapter 5

Of Conspiracy & Conversation

Rick and Alexis got out of a cab in front of the movie house just as Jordan and Kelly were walking up the block. Kelly spotted Alexis and ran up to the older girl, and gave her a big hug. "I didn't know you were going to the movies tonight." Kelly yelled out.

"Yeah, dad's feeling a little down so I thought I would drag him out of the house to see Toy Story 3." said Alexis loud enough for Rick and Jordan to hear.

"Hey I was not feeling down!" defended Rick as he gave Jordan a friendly hug.

"Yes you were, you slept till noon, and I had to make you put on pants today. You were going to mope around in your boxers all day." accused Alexis as the Shaw women laughed at there byplay.

"Fine I'm a little down, but that has a lot to do with me not having anything to do all day. I don't feel like writing any more Heat books. And I really don't want to go back to work at the precinct just to have Kate give me the disapproving eyes for knocking out her boy friend. So what was I supposed to do today?" Rick asked his daughter.

"I don't know but sitting around in your boxers was not an option." she turned back to Kelly "I found him in his heart print boxers eating ice cream, and watching Opera." Alexis and Kelly giggled, but Alexis saw the sad look Jordan had on her face, _Mission accomplished_. Alexis thought as she looked at the whole group. "Lets go get our tickets the movie is starting in a few minutes." said Alexis. She walked up to the ticket window and said "Four adults for Toy Story 3 please."

"Alexis you don't have to pay for our tickets." Said Jordan.

"It's okay, lets get popcorn before the previews start rolling." Said Alexis as she led them to the concession stand. "Who wants popcorn?" she asked. Everyone raised there hands. "Okay lets get two big tubs and what else?" She asked the group.

"I want a Coke and Sour Patch Kids." said Kelly

"I will take a diet Coke and a box of Muddy Bears." Jordan said.

"Oh good choice, I'll have the same thing." Said Rick.

"And I want a Coke and a box of Milk Duds." she said to the guy behind the counter. The guy started handing them stuff.

"I'm sorry to say the we only have one box of Muddy Bears." the guy said.

"That's okay, you can have them Jordan." Rick said.

"No you can take them and all get a box of Goobers." Jordan said.

"Oh, those are good too, how about we split them. I'll share my Muddy Bears with you if you share your Goobers with me… That sounded a lot better in my head." he said as the girls laughed at him. "just because you made fun of me your not getting any of my Muddy Bears." He said to Jordan and stuck out his tongue, and walked away. The women all laughed harder. Jordan paid and they found Rick sitting in the middle of the theater saving three more seats. The women shuffled in and Alexis and Kelly took the two seats to the right of Rick leaving the one seat on the left for Jordan. She sat down and held out her box of Goobers.

"I come in peace, baring chocolate covered peanuts." She said in a serous tone. Like she was presenting a foreign head of state with a peace agreement. He looked at the box of candy, and held up his box of Muddy Bears.

"I agree to the peace offering and I offer up gummy bears dipped in chocolate." they both couldn't keep a straight face any more and fell apart laughing.

After the movie let out they walked out of the theater and the women were all talking about the movie, but Rick was not. "What's wrong Dad?" asked Alexis.

"Well the movie was good but somebody," He looked at Jordan accusingly "Ate All of my Muddy Bears and All the Goobers." He said in a little kids pout.

"What can I say? I'm guilty as charged. I didn't eat lunch, and we skipped dinner to come here." Jordan said with a blush.

"In that case I insist that you come with us to a late dinner. We know this great little pizza place a few blocks from here." said Rick. Jordan looked at Kelly for confirmation, when she got a nod of approval she looked back up at Rick.

"I guess we're in." said Jordan. "But lets take my car."

"Oh cool, did you bring the Fedmobile?" Rick asked excitedly as they walk down the street.

"No, that belongs to the bureau, I'm driving my off duty car." She said with pride as she hit the alarm button, and her dark green Mustang beeped.

"Sweet! You got a new Bullitt car." Rick said as he walked around her car looking it over. "although this is not the right green, but I like it."

"I will have you know I custom ordered that color. It's hunter green." she said with a smirk.

Rick laughed, and Alexis turned to Kelly. "I don't get it?" Alexis said.

"It's an inside joke pumpkin. Jordan's a profiler, she hunts down dangerous men, and she has a Hunter green car. I love it." Rick said as he opened the passenger door and pulled up the seat so the girls could get in.

Jordan smiled. "I would like to congratulate you on being the first person to get it." Jordan told Rick as she put her key in the ignition and fired up the supercharged V8. She revved the engine twice and peeled out of her parking space. Rick had the biggest smile on his face.

"I think I'm in love with your car." he said as Jordan accelerated up the street.

"Well if you promise not to hurt her I'll let you drive home." said Jordan.

"It's a she? I would have thought you would have called her Frank?" Rick asked. He saw Jordan smile. "Let me guess Francine?" He asked.

"Yep." she said with a smile. "So where are we going?" she asked.

"Up one more street, and left two more." he said. "SO what did you drive before this beauty?"

The two girls in the back looked at each other and smiled. This was going to be easier then they thought.

And they were right. In the following week they bumped in to each other a lot. On Sunday they showed up to the same restaurant for brunch. Rick sat in a booth with Alexis waiting for his French toast. He looked at Alexis but she was looking at two women that just walked into the diner.

"Hey dad, do you think that's Kelly and her mom?" Alexis asked offhandedly.

Rick took another look. It was hard to tell from where he was sitting, he had only seen Jordan in a skirt, and that's where his attention usually stuck. The two women were wearing blue jeans and t-shirts. Then the older woman turned to look in there direction and Rick's eyes locked with Jordan's. Rick smirked and stood up. "Hey Jordan! We saved you guys a seat." he said with a laugh. The two women walked over and sat down. Kelly slid into the bench with Alexis leaving Jordan the bench next to Rick.

"Thank you for sharing your table with us, it's hard to get a seat in this place on the weekends." said Jordan as she called over a waiter.

"No worries. So this place is good? This is the first time I've been here. Alexis wanted to try it out." Rick said.

"It's the best place for breakfast in the city." Said Jordan as she ordered a Bacon and cheese omelet and a side of hash browns. Kelly ordered the strawberry waffles, and eggs.

"So what brings you guys here this morning?" Kelly asked.

"I wanted to test your claim about this place having the best Waffles so I got dad up and dragged him here for brunch. How about you.?" Alexis said.

"We walk here every Sunday if mom is home. We only live three blocks from here." Said Kelly with a smile.

"So what are you ladies doing today?" Rick asked as his plate of French toast was set in front of him. He took a bite and nodded. The food in this place was good.

"I'm taking mom window shopping. I think now that she's single she should think about changing her style. I think she should start wearing shorter skirts and more revealing tops. She looks too good to be covered up like she does. Right Rick?" asked Kelly as Rick choked.

He coughed, and cleared his throat. "um, yes?" he said lost.

"See Rick thinks you look hot, so lets go shopping." Said Kelly.

Jordan smiled at Rick's discomfort over being put on the spot, but then she thought about it, her daughter was right. She was a single woman now, maybe it was time to think about changing up the way she dressed. "Fine. But I have to maintain a level of respectability in the office. I'm a special Agent, it's expected that I act and dress maturely." Jordan said as she dotted some hot sauce on her hash browns.

"I could tag along and help you pick something out, gram and my mom taught me everything there is to know about shopping." said Alexis.

"Oh! Good idea. But what about your dad?" asked Kelly.

"He can come to, we need someone to carry all the bags." Said Alexis flippantly.

"I like how they gave you a choice in this matter." Jordan stage whispered to Rick.

"Yeah, the next thing they're going to say is I'm paying for the trip." He said as he finished the last bite of his bacon.

"Good idea dad! Your picking up the tab as a belated birthday present. When was your birthday?" Alexis asked Jordan.

"March 13." Jordan said confused. She turned to Rick, but saw the same glazed over look in his eyes too. The girls got up and walked to the register talking about all the stores they were going to hit. "What just happened?" Jordan asked as they watched the two girls leave the diner.

"I think I was just roped into buying you sexy clothes for your birthday, and I was volunteered to carry all of it. All in all this is going to be a fun day." He finished in a sarcastic tone. He then fell apart laughing at the confused look on Jordan's face. "Lets go before they forget about us." He said as he stood up and helped Jordan off the bench. He then offered her his arm as a joke but she took it.

"Thank you kind sir." She said with a half curtsy

"You are most welcome my lady." Replied Rick with a nod of his head.

"Lets find the girls." She said. As they left the diner, they saw the girls holding open a cab door waiting for them.

"About time you guys showed up. What took you so long. Come on get in." Said Kelly.

They spent the rest of the day trying to pin down a new look for Jordan. Kelly kept suggesting skimpy tops and stiletto heels. She wanted to make sure her mom caught Rick's eye. Alexis suggested Jordan go with a more softer look rather then skimpy. She picked out summer dresses in light prints. She wanted Jordan to look like her own mom just less out there. When they asked Rick he just shrugged. He learned a long time ago that when it came to women's fashion his opinion was always wrong. In the end Jordan put her foot down and went with the same look she had now just a little bit sexier. She got three new suits with shorter skirts and some new tops with deeper neck lines.

On Monday they showed up to the same art gallery, and made fun of the modern "Art". they then went out to eat at a diner that after noon. "I don't know how people can be lazy and throw crap on a piece of paper and call it art. No offence Rick." Jordan said as they all sat down in a booth.

"I will have you know I do a lot of work for my books. Each one of them represents a new life experience that I put my self through to understand what my characters are going through. I like to think about my books as adventures." he said in a mock huff. The girls laughed at him. The conversation flowed easily after that.

Tuesday Rick was sent to a PTA meeting for York Prep. Parents by his daughter. It was a big lunch, in the schools gym, where the parents got to talk about what there kids were learning, and what the school needed to do to make there child's education better. Before he left the house Alexis handed him a stack of index cards, and told him that she wanted him to push for the two new classes she wrote down in her notes. She also prepared his speech for him, all he had to do was read from the cards. Rick walked into the school gym and found his name tag. He then found the bar. It was still early, but they were serving champagne. After he got a glass he circulated through the crowd.

Jordan walked into the gym looking around lost. She spotted the table with the nametags and located hers. She clipped it onto the lapel of her suit jacket and looked around the room. That's when she saw him, he was surrounded by what she could only describe as desperate housewives. He was standing in the middle of about a dozen of them and she could see they were getting a little too hands on for his taste. She decided to help him out by butting in and stealing him away. She was glad she had her gun and her badge, if this got ugly she could pull rank on these stay at home bo-toxed bitches. She unbuttoned her jacket so that her shield was visible, and pushed her shoulders back and her chest out.

Rick was starting to get uncomfortable now, the women were getting bolder. This started with just two women talking to him about his books, but soon the other cougars started to circle him like he was a wounded animal. He had to get out of here before he got his ass pinched again. That's when he herd Jordan's voice. "Richard! I didn't know you were going to be here." she said and he spun around to see her standing behind him. He pulled her into a hug.

"My savior." He said softly.

"I see you have fans here, am I interrupting anything?" she asked with a smirk.

"No! Please don't leave me with them. There getting bolder. I've had my ass pinched three times now and I think the last one left a mark." he said as he turned around to see the group giving him and Jordan dirty looks.

Jordan hugged Rick's arm and pulled him away from the group saying loudly "I didn't know you were coming to this little get together. You will never believe what Kelly did…"

"You can stop now I think we're out of ear shot." he said looking around.

"So why are you here? Kelly said Alexis told her you never come to these things. I thought I was going to have to mingle with these people." Jordan said as they found an empty table and took seats.

"I usually don't, but Alexis wants me to advocate for two new classes, and since I'm a major contributor to the school I have some pull." He said.

"What two classes?" Jordan asked.

"Um, oh! modern American literature, and American civics and law." He said as he read them off the cards.

"Funny because I was told to advocate for… American civics and law, and Modern American literature." She said holding up an index card. They looked at the index cards and laughed.

"Who do you think is responsible for this," he said holding up his cards. "Yours or mine?"

"Probably yours. Kelly's smart, but not this organized." Said Jordan looking over her cards.

"So I won't be the only one giving a speech at this thing?" He said.

"No, I'm afraid not." She said. More parents showed up and they had a light lunch. After the plates were cleared away the dean stood up.

"I would like to welcome you all to the June Meeting of the York Prep. Parents and Teachers Association. I'm the dean of York Prep. Walter Parker. I have a few announcements to make then I will open the floor up to the parents. The first announcement I would like to make is, one of our parents, Best Selling Author Richard Castle, has just donated $500,000 to the library. This donation will be used to expand our foreign literature section. This will make our library at York Prep. One of the best in the state." he paused for the applause to die down. Jordan saw the look of shock on Richards face.

"You're a very charitable man, Rick." Jordan said.

"That I am." He said.

"You had no idea did you?" Jordan asked.

"Not a clue. I'm going to 'Talk' To Alexis later." he said through clenched teeth.

"Oh please, don't act like your not proud of her for out smarting you like this." Said Jordan with a laugh.

"Your dam right I am. It shows that she's inherited my deviousness." he said. The floor was opened up to parents. Rick took his index cards and walked up to the podium. "Hi my Name is Richard Castle, and I'm the proud parent of a York prep. Student. I come here today to advocate that we add two more Advanced Placement classes to the already impressive AP lineup. The two classes I'm here to talk about are AP Modern American Literature, and AP American Civics and Law. The two classes are offered at both Redding and Chilton, but not here, and I think they should be. In AP modern lit. students are taught that just because something wasn't written hundreds of years ago doesn't mean it's not a classic. The course moves through the great works of the last fifty years. I'm proud to say that two of my books are on that list?…" He trailed off. His books were on the list of modern classics? Cool! "Um, it also shows students that they can read something that holds their attention and is still a classic. The next course I would like to advocate for is AP American civics and law. The class shows students the rights they have under the Constitution. It also shows them what the government does and how the system can be used for justice. The course counts as a prerequisite to Law and justice studies classes in college. I think that if we add these two courses to our impressive lineup it will cement York prep. As The Number one school in the country. Thank you for your time." Rick took his cards and went back to his seat.

"Your daughter is a very good speech writer." Jordan said with a smile.

"Yes she is. Though I must say the fact that my books are on the list of modern classics threw me off my flow up there." he said with a smirk.

"I guess it's my turn." Jordan said as she stood up.

"Good luck." He said as she passed him.

"You did all the heavy lifting." she walked up to the podium, and looked at her notes. She then put them down, and decided to wing it. " Hi my name is Jordan Shaw and I am the proud parent of a new, in coming York Prep. Student. I was sent here today by my daughter to advocate for two AP classes, but Mr. Castle beat me to it. So I guess I'm here today to be the first parent to second the motion for the two classes. As an FBI agent I always pushed my daughter to know her rights and follow the letter of the law. With the civics and law course at York I know she would have the best understanding of both. As for the modern lit class I would like to put forth a thought, did the people of his day hold William Shakspire in the same light that we hold him today? Yes he was a great playwrite in his day, but did the people of his time hold him up to the same importance that we do today? I think Castle's books are unreadable…" She paused here for the laughing, Rick stood up and took a bow. Jordan laughed and continued. "But who's to say that our grand children wont hold his works up to the same standers that we do Shakespire today? Thank you." She said as she walked back to her seat. When she sat next to Rick he acted like he was mortaly wounded by her words. She took one look at him and fell in to a fit of giggles. "Did I hurt your feelings Ricky?" She asked in baby talk.

"Maybe." He pouted.

"Well I'm sorry." She kissed him on the cheek. "There, all better." She said. Rick couldn't hold it together anymore and laughed as well. They sat through the next hour of Mothers coming up to the podium to talk about things like the use of green technology, and things like making a dance class. "Man this is boring." Said Jordan as another mother walked up to the podium.

"Now I remember why I hate coming to these things." Rick said.

The next woman that came up to the podium was asking for volunteers for the York scouts. "What the hell is a York scout?" Jordan asked Rick.

"It's like the boy/girl scouts for the concrete jungle." He said. "Parents sign up to take a group of boys or girls to work with them and teach them some of the things they know. It's like a bring your kid to work day except it's your kid and twenty of there friends. I never did it, but my Mother took a troup of girls out shopping and showed them around the theater she was working at." Rick explained. Jordan stood up.

"I would like to volunteer for the York scouts. It would be my pleasure to take a troop of girls to the FBI gym and show them self defence techniques." Said Jordan.

"Now that's what I'm talking about, any more volunteers?" The lady asked. Jordan sat back down.

"That was brave of you, you do know your going to be stuck with twenty teenaged girls right?" Rick asked.

"No, my junior field agents are going to be stuck with twenty teenaged girls. I'm going to be sitting back enjoying the show. This is going to be so much fun." Said Jordan with a evil genius laugh.

"That's just plane mean, I like it." Rick said. They sat through another hour of the PTA meeting, and when it was over the two left the building together. Jordan looked at her watch it was almost dinner time. "That took a lot longer than I thought it would, it's time for dinner, do you want to get something to eat Jordan?" Asked Rick.

"Sure. I could eat." She said but inside she was happy he brought it up. She was hungry but she thought it might look un-lady like to say she was starving after they just had a late lunch. Then she thought it was crazy to even be thinking about that. They were friends, so what if she looked un-lady like, it's not like they were going out… then again that didn't sound all that bad. He was saying something. "What?" she asked hoping he couldn't tell she was off in her own little world.

"I said I know this great little place that has the best steak and lobster. Do you want to go there?" He asked.

"Sure, it sounds like fun. Lets go I'm parked in the lot." Jordan said as she got out her keys.

They sat down to eat dinner and the conversation flowed out just as easy as when the girls were with them. They talked about what Rick was going to do now that he wasn't following detective Beckett around. They toyed with the idea of Rick going to the police academy, and becoming a detective himself.

"I don't know Jordan, I'm not that young, and it would mean going back to school." He said.

"I think you could do it. You probably could take some of the final exams now and pass them. You've been doing research for your book for years. You probably know most of the stuff already." she said airily.

"I don't know. I'm thinking about going back to the team. So what if I don't get along with Beckett, I'll work with another team. Or I could just write another book series." he said flippantly.

"Just promise me you'll think about becoming a real cop. I think you could do it. You have a detectives mind, your brain was built to solve puzzles " she said.

"Okay, I'll think about becoming a cop."

AN: This story has taken a new turn, the Jordan/Rick ship is going to be a big part of the plot, but Rick becoming an FBI profiler is going to be a big part too. I have this idea of Rick taking a bunch of master classes on being a Fed. I also have some ideas for some cases he can work on. Think of it like a buddy cop show. In the four chapters this part of the plot line will be flushed out more. I think a part of me took the story line this way to work out some of my writers block for Master of War. Anyway that's where this boat is headed. Until next time, TBH


	6. Of Relaxing & Recruiting

Chapter 6

Of Relaxing & Recruiting

Wednesday Morning Kelly got up and found her mother in the kitchen of the two bedroom apartment they lived in. They were both wearing yoga pants and t-shirts, Kelly in a pink sleeveless and Jordan in an old FBI shirt.

"Hey honey, what are you doing today?" Jordan asked as she handed Kelly a glass of juice.

"Alexis is taking me out for a spa day." Kelly said.

"That sounds nice." Jordan said.

"Maybe you should come out with us. Your class doesn't start till noon, come with us. You could get in half a day at the spa getting pampered." Kelly said.

"Maybe, where are you going?" Jordan asked.

"Alexis said someplace called Cassandra's." Replied Kelly.

"Cassandra's? that place is the best spa in the city. It cost like a grand just to make an appointment there." Jordan said.

"That's why Alexis is picking up the tab." Said Kelly like it was obvious.

"But it's not right for her to be spending money like that." Jordan argued

"Mom do you have any idea how rich Alexis' dad is?" Kelly asked.

"No, but I've seen him not even blink at Alexis donating half a million dollars of his money so I'm going to say very?" Jordan said.

"Alexis said her dad is worth 150 Million dollars." Kelly said.

"Um, did you say 150?" Jordan asked shocked.

"Yep, so if Alexis says she's paying for something I just go with it. So are you coming with us to the spa?" Kelly asked as she walked off to get dressed.

"I am, I'm also moving my class back till two." Jordan said as she moved off into her room to find something to wear.

The three women, two Shaw and one Castle, walked into what looked like an office building. The receptionist greeted Alexis by name and led them through the doors to the back. Stepping through the doors was like stepping in to another world. The walls were soft pink and white marble, the floors were covered in the softest white carpet Jordan had ever seen. They were led to a locker room and handed heavy white terrycloth robes, and told to strip down for their first treatment. They spent the next half hour laying on padded tables wrapped in seaweed and hot towels. After that they sat in a Jacuzzi for a half hour. Jordan sat between the two girls in the hot tub with the jets of water aimed at her lower back.

"Oh this feels nice." Kelly mumbled. Alexis laughed.

"Have you ever had a full body massage before?" Alexis asked.

"No, but it sounds like it could be fun." Kelly said.

"I signed us up for the top three massage therapists in the place." Said Alexis half asleep.

"This place is amazing, my skin looks and feels great." Said Jordan as she ran her hands over her shoulders.

"It's the seaweed wrap. Wait until after the hot oil massage. Your skin will feel like wet silk. I also signed us up for facials. Kelly they make this mud that takes away acne, and keeps it away for weeks. Gram used to take me here for it all the time when I first got zits." Said Alexis.

They got out of the water and moved off to a room with three padded massage tables. They dropped their robes and laid face down on the tables. Three big German women came in and started working on them. For the next ten minutes all that could be herd coming from the three women was groaning. "You are very tense." Said Greta the woman working on Jordan in heavy accented English.

"She has a high stress job. She's a Federal agent." Said Kelly. "Oh right there, that shoulder has been hurting for a week now, god that feels good. Hey Alexis can I keep her?" Kelly asked.

"No but I think we need to make coming here a monthly ritual." Alexis sighed.

"What is this?" Greta asked as she worked around a nasty scar on Jordan's Back. Jordan blushed red and got up off the table. Alexis and Kelly got up to see what the problem was. Kelly was the closest to her mother and hugged the older woman.

"What's wrong mom?" Kelly asked.

"Nothing it just, I remember why I stopped coming to the spa. I don't like it when people see my battle scars…" She trailed off.

"Oh, mom it's fine. Just go back and lay down, no one will say anything about your scars. We are all women here, now lets go back to being pampered." Said Kelly as she led her mom back to her table and made her lay down. "beside's it's not that noticeable." Said Kelly as she looked at the other's in the room for agreement. She got a round of no's.

"What are you guys talking about anyways?" Alexis asked.

"I have a few scars from my work as a field agent. I, um. They're embarrassing. They remind me of all the times I've messed up." Said Jordan.

"Oh, cool. So do your war wounds have cool stories that go with them?" asked Alexis. She didn't like the fact that Jordan was unsure of her body.

"Well the scar on my back came from a bullet my third year as a profiler. We track down a killer to his house and it turned into a firefight. I was hit in the back three times and one of the bullets went through the vest. The scar on my left forearm came from a knife fight. I suspected this bookstore owner of being the killer we were looking for but my boss at the time had other ideas. So I confronted the guy in his office at the back of the bookstore. He pulled a knife out and tried to stab me with it. I put up my forearm and took the knife in the arm. I shot him in the leg, pistol whipped him, and called for backup." Recounted Jordan as Greta got back to work.

"Wow, you've been through a lot. I think I've found a real life superwoman." Said Alexis.

"My mom is so cool." Said Kelly with pried.

"What about this one?" asked Greta as she massaged Jordan's thigh.

Jordan blushed and tried to hide her face. "I got that climbing over a barbed wire fence my first year as an agent. My boss at the time told me it was un-scaleable, but I had to prove him wrong. I was stuck doing paperwork for the next six weeks. Simmons, my old partner, still wont stop talking about it. 'the great Jordan Shaw taken down by a fence' It's my most embarrassing one." Jordan said.

The girls laughed. "Well I still think your cool Jordan." Said Alexis. "I wish my dad could find someone as cool as you. I thought he did with Beckett, but then this whole Demming thing happened and he hasn't been himself lately." Said Alexis dramatically.

"I'm sure your dad will be just fine. He's a good looking, famous author. He'll be swimming in women soon enough." Jordan mumbled.

"I guess, but I don't think my dad's looking for that any more. I think he needs a woman that will challenge him mentally, and be unaffected by his money and fame." Said Alexis.

"I can see that, oh god that hurts and feels unbelievable at the same time." Said Jordan as Greta worked over her calves.

"You wear heels a lot yes?" The big woman asked.

"Yes, but I try to wear something low and sturdy, oh god! I'm cramping up awww." Jordan said as she felt her mussels seize up.

"It will go away in a second. You wear the wrong shoes, they hurt your legs. If your going to wear them you should come back every couple weeks and have your legs worked on." the big German lady said wisely.

"Okay." Jordan said softly as she drifted off to sleep. She was shaken awake by her daughter some time later.

"It's time for our facials mom." Kelly said as she handed Jordan her big robe.

They walked down the hall to a room with four barbers chairs. They took seats and nine women walked in wearing staff uniforms. Three women worked on each of them. One woman was giving Jordan a pedicure while another was working on her finger nails and massaging her hands. The last woman was rubbing her temples.

"You bite your fingernails?" The woman working on Jordan's hands asked.

"No! I do not." Jordan said affronted, she then looked down at her hands and saw the brittle edges. "Okay maybe a little when I'm stressed, or nerves." she amended.

"You stressed a lot?" The lady asked as she worked on Jordan's right hand.

"No." Jordan said with a laugh.

"Right mom, because you don't have a high stress job right?" Kelly said.

"Okay maybe a lot, why?" Jordan asked.

"Because you have the hands of a construction worker. I'm going to have to file these all the way down." the woman said with a sigh.

"I think we should get lunch after this. Where do you want to go?" Alexis asked.

"I cant go with you guys I was volunteered by the other department heads to teach the junior agents how to handle there guns. I have to be at the range in an hour and a half." Said Jordan with a sigh.

"That sounds like fun, I wish I knew how to handle a gun." Said Alexis.

"Well I've been thinking about teaching Kelly, I guess I could teach you too. In fact I'm free tomorrow morning until the evening, I could take you girls down to the range, but you need to bring your dad with you, and you need to okay it with him. I don't want to get in trouble with your dad because I showed his little girl how to handle a gun." Jordan said with a laugh.

It was for that reason that Thursday Rick, Alexis, and Kelly showed up with Jordan at the FBI field office. They checked in at the front desk and Jordan took them down to the firing range. Jordan had them sit behind a table, she opened her suit jacket and pulled her Sig Sauer 229. She popped out the clip and racked the slide. She put it down. She then opened a gun case she had with her and pulled out what looked like her 229 but shrunk down. She again popped the clip and racked the slide. She then reached into the case and pulled out a Beretta 92fs. She again went over her routine. The last thing she pulled out was a big revolver. She clicked the latch on the side and the cylinder swung out. She put it on the table with the other guns and looked at her class.

"Okay people we have a selection of firearms, and after I go over some basic safety points we'll look at the different guns. Then we will fire them." Jordan spent the next twenty minutes going over the basics of handling a gun. For two of the students this was a refresher course, but Alexis was taking everything in for the first time. She even took notes on some of the aiming pointers. After the safety talk Jordan moved on to the different guns. She started with her own Sig. She picked it up and showed it to the others. "This is my service weapon. It's a Sig Sauer 229. It takes a 9mm round, and it holds 15 rounds. It has a shorter barrel so it's only accurate up to about twenty-five yards. I like it, but some of the other agents say it's top heavy." Jordan looked at her gun with a soft smile.

Jordan picked up the shrunken Sig next. "This is the Sig Sauer Mosquito. Some people say it's not that great but I like it. It's got a good handle and it feels a lot like my 229. The Mosquito fires a .22 caliber round, and has a ten round clip. This is the gun you girls will be firing the most today." Jordan said.

Jordan then picked up the Beretta 92fs. "I got this out of the cage for Rick, but you guys can try it. This is the standard issue police gun. It fires a 9mm round and it holds 15 rounds. Like I said I got it for Rick, so he can live out his fantasy of being a cop." Jordan said with a laugh. The girls joined in when they saw the look of excitement on Rick's face.

Jordan then held up the revolver. "I got this so you guys can experience the power of a .357 magnum." she said as she showed them the size of the bullet compared to the .22. She then put a full clip into the Mosquito and had Kelly stand in the range lane. Jordan put a target up ten feet away and stood behind her daughter. She then handed the gun to Kelly and had her assume the shooting stance she taught them. "Now remember honey, squeeze the trigger don't jerk it."

Kelly took a breath, and pulled the trigger. She yelped in surprise, but she hit the target. "Good job Honey, very good job you hit the 7 ring high left. Not bad for your first shot." she hugged her daughter and had her switch places with Alexis. "Okay same advice, squeeze, don't jerk." Alexis took aim and pulled the trigger. "Good job Alexis. You got top corner of the 9 ring." Jordan turned to Rick. "What calibers have you shot before?" she asked.

"9mm, 40 S&W, and .45 ACP" he said.

"Okay let see how good your aim is." she said as she moved the target back to the ten yard mark, and handed him the gun. "Lets see if you can put one in the 10 ring from this distance." she said with a smirk.

Rick took the small gun and looked it over. He didn't like it. It was small and felt like he was going to break it if he gripped it too tight, but he shrugged and squared up to the target. He took a deep breath and replaced the X in the 10 ring with a hole. He clicked the safety on and handed it to Jordan. "How was that?" he asked with a smirk.

Jordan moved the target forwards and took it down. She was impressed. When he said he shot before she assumed that meant one of the officers he worked with took him to the range and did what she was doing with the girls. "How much shooting experience do you Have?" she asked him.

"I've been a member of a shooting range for ten years, and I try to go at least five times a year." he said flippantly.

"Have you ever fired a Beretta before?" Jordan asked.

"No, the place I go to only rents out Glocks." he said.

"Well seeing as your capable with a gun why don't I set you up in the lane next to this one and I'll teach the girls how to aim." she said as she handed him the unloaded Beretta and three clips.

Twenty minutes later the girls were consistently hitting the middle of the target. So Jordan switched them to her 229. Kelly was the first to try the bigger gun and found the kick to be not so bad, but she had to agree with what her mom said, the gun felt awkward in her hands. Kelly switched with Alexis and the other girl said the same thing. They did not like Jordan's gun. Jordan called Rick back and asked for the Beretta. She had Alexis try the Beretta and the girl liked it better. The longer barrel helped balance the gun and Alexis put her first shot in the 10 ring. Rick was very impressed his daughter could shoot so well.

Jordan asked him what he thought of the Cop gun. "I like it." he said holding up a target with one big hole in the 10 ring.

"You just shot a few rounds?" she asked.

"No that's ten shots. I love the sights on this thing." he said. Jordan was really impressed. She would be hard pressed to do the same.

"What distance was that from?" she asked him.

"I don't know?" he replied.

"Show me." she said as she loaded up a new target, and stepped away. Rick stood in the lane and held down the button to move the target away. He let off when the target got about three quarters of the way down range. "that's about twenty yards, or sixty feet." she said. The two girls took seats by the table and watched the byplay between the two adults. "Rick I want you to put ten rounds in the gun and put it on the table in front of you." he did as requested. "now what we are going to do next is one of the tests to get your FBI badge. When I say go I want you to pick up the gun and put all ten shots into the target as fast as you can, but also as accurately as you can." she told him as she got out a stop watch.

"Okay sounds like fun." he said with a smirk.

"Go!" she called out. Rick picked up the Beretta and took a quick breath. He sighted up and shot. Five seconds later he put the empty gun down, and turned to Jordan. She called the target back and was floored by what she was looking at. Of the ten shots, he made seven in the 10 ring and the other three in the 9 ring.

"How did I do?" he asked.

"You did better then 90% of the junior agents that come through here." she said absently as she looked at the target.

"I bet you could do that." He said. As he loaded a target and sent it out to where his was. He took the watch from her. "Go ahead, I want to see what an agent can do." he said with a smile. Jordan shook her head and put the target she was staring at down. She took off her jacket and unsnapped her holster. She looked at the target and back at Rick. "Go!" he said.

Jordan drew her Sig and lined up her sights. Four seconds later she re-holstered her gun. She called the target back and was disappointed. Of the ten rounds five of them hit the 10 ring. The other five hit all around the 9 ring just outside of the 10.

"It's probably just the gun." Said Rick from behind her.

"Yeah." she said absently. She tried not to sound too disappointed with her performance. "All right lets try the Beretta from the same distance we were just shooting from." she said to the girls.

The day progressed with the girls learning how to fire all the guns but they did not like the .357's kick. It knocked Kelly down and hurt Alexis' wrist. They quit after that and Jordan showed them around the tenth floor, her profiling department. She put them in a conference room with two of her junior field agents to show them how to strip and clean the guns they just used.

Jordan ushered Rick into her office. "I think I might have found a solution to your boredom. I'm the top profiler in the country, and as the top guy I have a few responsibilities. The first is that I get assigned to all of the big, high profile cases. Not just the local ones like the Heat case. The second is teaching. I have to teach a class on the art of finding the bad guys. The third job I have is oversight on all of the other cases going on around the country. If I'm not working a case I'm going over all of the other cases open right now. If I think a case is being mishandled I step in and take over. But the last job I do as the top profiler is scout talent. When I work with local PD's I look at the officers that stand out and offer them jobs in the FBI." said Jordan.

"That's cool, the teaching doesn't sound like fun though." he said.

"Oh, some days I feel like drawing my gun and shooting some of my students. They think that because they went to ivy league schools they're smarter then everyone. Anyways back to the point. I'm telling you this because I pulled your file." she said. Opening her drawer and pulling out a thick file.

"What file?" he asked.

"Well to tell you the truth this is not the file I started with, I started by pulling your criminal records. Then I had my class look up everything about you, and asses your threat level…" she was cut off by Rick.

"You had your class look into my personal life?" he asked angrily.

"Yes, but you have nothing to worry about I had each student work on something different. Then I put it all together. I must say Rick I'm impressed." she said knowing it would stop the rant from coming.

"You are?" he asked interested. She smiled, she had his attention now.

"Yes, lets go over it shall we? We will start with education. You attended nine prep schools in your younger days, but only one university, Princeton. That tells me you were too smart for the schools and goofed off. You then got your masters in English, with a minor in education. You went on to be a teacher for two years at a public high school. Then four years later you moved upstate and attended the graduate program at the University of Albany's School for criminology. You graduated with a masters degree with top honors in two years, why did you do that?" she asked as she looked over the file.

"I got a few reviews saying my first four books were light on the procedural information, so I took a break from writing and went back to school. It was fun." he said feeling uncomfortable, like he was sitting in the principals office.

"That was not the last time you took classes in the name of book research was it?" she asked with a smile.

"No, I took a course in pathology, and got my M.E. certification. I've never done it for real but I could if I had to. The course I found was all theoretical. I did a seminar class in acting so I could prefect the bad boy image on the request of my publisher/ex-wife. I got my paralegal certification so I could make the Storm books more legally accurate. I also had the owner of the range, teach me shooting stances, and firing techniques for hand guns, shot guns, and rifles. And finally, I had an ex-Israeli Mosaad officer teach me Krav Maga." Rick finished with a slight blush.

"We did not know you knew that fighting technique. We only have the brown belt in karate you got when you were nine. You know Krav Maga? Tell me, what belt are you?" she asked with a smirk.

"That's a trick question, and you know it. There are no belts in Krav Maga, just skill sets. If you want to know what skill sets I know then I know gun, knife, hand to hand, chokes, and joint locks. Now what is this all about Jordan? Why am I being interrogated?" he asked losing his temper at her line of questioning.

"Relax Rick this is not an interrogation, it's a job interview. Next month agent Avery will be getting a promotion to special Agent and his own team. I am looking for a new partner. You would be doing the same thing that you did with the NYPD, but you would be carrying a gun and a badge with the title Junior agent." she said with a big smile.

"How? I never went to Quantico." he said in confusion.

"Well the next thing I was going to talk to you about was your arrest record. Since joining detective Beckett's team they have closed every case they got, and all of the reports they filed sight you as the source of the information that led to the arrests. I had one of my agents talk to your Captain, and he had nothing but good things to say about you. The only thing you haven't done is make a collar your self. That's not that important seeing as you are way more qualified to be an agent then some of these agents I'm working with now. You will basically be my apprentice, you will hold the title of junior agent until you can pass the two weeks of testing, and evaluations required to be a full agent. I was thinking that you could do that next summer. That way you would have a year to study for them, but I must say you could pass half of them right now if you took them. You just passed the range portion in my opinion." She said with a laugh. "Look you're too good at finding killers to not be in law enforcement Richard, we will make this work." she said with sincerity.

"Wow um, what can I say? This is a lot to take in. Um I think I need time to think about it." he said lost in thought.

"If it has to do with you finishing the Nikki Heat books I can understand that. Avery is not getting his promotion until next month, and I don't need to fill the spot on my team for another four months after that. So you have five months to make a decision." she said.

"It's not the books, I have the next two written. And I could write ten more with the notes I have at home. It's just…" he shrugged.

"It's just the real Nikki Heat? Is that it?" she asked with disappointment. She didn't know why but she really hoped he'd say no.

"I guess? I'm not sure. I think a lot of it has to do with the rest of the team. How will they react to me leaving them for another team? Or Alexis, how will she react to me being gone a lot more?" he said.

"I understand Rick, trust me I understand. And if Alexis has questions about the job she can ask me, or Kelly. The same goes for you, if you have questions about the job, or the cases we work, or anything really, don't hesitate to call me. I want you on my team Rick. So take your time." Jordan said. She had him against the ropes now all she had to do was sell it to him.

she got up and walked around her desk to stand next to Rick. "But, I saw the look on your face when we were building theory about the Heat killer. I know that look, Richard. I know you. You started to work with Beckett to get her attention, but you stayed for the cases. You like the hunt, it's why we do it, it's why I do it. If you were a caveman you would hunt down saber-toothed tigers instead of mammoths. It's in your nature. For the same reason Killers kill, we hunt. Not everyone is like that. Hell there are agents right now, working cases in the field, that have no idea what I'm talking about, but you do. You're a profiler Richard, you always were and you always will be. From the second you walk into a room you 'know' everyone. I bet I could put you in a room full of people and you'd be able to spot the killer. You like finding the clues, and questioning suspects. Tell the truth, after a gun fight you feel relaxed. Like a post sex calm." she said as she sat in the chair next to him, and crossed her legs drawing his attention down to her smooth stems.

"You know me too well Jordan. Your right I did stick around for the cases. I will never regret becoming a writer, it has given me the things I wanted in life. It's provided a home for my daughter and me, and put her through the best schools. We have never needed for anything, but there is a part of me that regrets not becoming a cop. When Beckett gave me her backup gun in that warehouse I felt powerful, and it felt right. When I shot the gun out of his hand…" he said as he looked off into space thinking about all the times he had solved the case, and the thrill it gave him.

"You don't have to explain it to me Richard, I know the power that comes from doing the job. I want you on my team Richard, and I know you want in too. That's why I got this from the supply counter." she said as she tossed him a black ID holder with a Gold shield. "As soon as we finalize your paperwork we will add your picture ID card, but I'll let you keep that as long as you promise not to use it until we finalize your application." she said with a knowing smirk.

Rick flipped open the ID holder and looked at the gold shield. This was the closest he ever got to living his dream.

"AN: I caught Exit to Eden on TV, and was … inspired. I may have made Jordan a little too aggressive. What ever, this was a fun chapter to write. I pictured this scene as being like the interrogation scene in the pilot Episode. I hope that you could feel the tension in the air. The next chapter will show what the team has been doing and show Rick's return to the 12th. I hope you like it, TBH


	7. Of Fights & Federal agents

_Chapter 7_

_Of Fights & Federal agents_

_Life was not going good for Detective Javier Esposito. He backed Castle and it seemed like they were wrong. Nothing happened for two days then on Tuesday morning they were called out to look at a body and found another dead rich guy with a missing thumb. Kate had backed Demming's theory so now they were looking for a connection between the people they found dead. So far all they could find was all of the men appeared in The New York Ledger's top 20 richest men in Manhattan list. They were running down leads on people that worked for one of the dead guy's that might be disgruntled. The list was long and it looked like there was no end in sight. _

_Thursday morning brought another dead rich guy. But they also found a guy that fit Beckett's profile. His name was Samuel Fry, he worked for the tech company owned by there first victim. He was fired two weeks before the killings started. They were looking for him but he was a hard man to find. After he was fired his wife filed for divorce, and kicked him out. She was a real piece of work, a gold digger to the core. Mrs. Fry hired the meanest divorce attorney she could find the day after he lost his job. She then got a court order kicking him out of his house. The best part by far though, was that in her haste to get his money she forgot to get a forwarding address. They were back at square one again, and Esposito was trying to not rip his own hair out when Rick Castle stepped off the elevator. _

"_Thank god, now maybe we can go over a different angle." Esposito said to Ryan as Rick walked up to their desks. They both got up and half shook hands, half hugged the writer. _

"_Boy have we missed you Castle. We got two more bodies and no idea what the connection is." Said Ryan. _

"_Yes we do, they were all on the top twenty list of rich guys in the city. We have a suspect, Samuel Fry. All we have to do is track the guy down. Now what are you doing here Castle?" Said Beckett from behind Ryan. _

"_I came here to take you guys out to dinner, and to talk about some stuff. What's the suspect's connection to the murders?" Rick said as he walked over to the murder board and looked it over. _

"_He was fired by the first victim." Said Kate. _

"_Okay, so the guy gets fired, and he snaps and kills his ex-boss. Why go around killing the other men?" Rick asked with a puzzled look on his face._

"_He saw the paper and snapped. He now had a hit list to work from." She explained like it was obvious. _

"_Okay so what your saying is that the guy is sitting around his house in his boxers, and eating fruit loops. He sees an article, that's from three months ago, and snaps. He then goes out and gets a gun, and a van and starts executing rich guys without leaving any evidence?" Rick asked Kate like he was talking to a crazy person. _

"_Yes! Why are you here anyway. You come back to instigate another fight with my boy friend?" she asked sarcastically. _

"_No I came to take my friends out to dinner to talk about some stuff. Are you in or are you too busy chasing after the wrong guy based on a theory that's bat shit crazy?" he asked just as sarcastically back. _

"_You know what Castle? It was quiet without you here. Why don't you just leave?" She said as she walked up to him and got in his face. _

"_You might want to back up a little, your boy toy found out the hard way not to invade my personal space." Rick said softly._

"_Are you going to hit me too? You going to try that kung fu shit on me Kitten?" She asked sweetly, but everyone in the room knew she was anything but. " Come on Mr. Apples. This is how you did it right? You got in Toms face, and you goaded him into throwing that punch right?" _

_Rick just shrugged and turned to the boys. "You guys want to go out for dinner I want to talk to you about something?" He asked them. He turned back to Beckett "We worked together for a long time Beckett, I think by now you know I would never hit a woman, although I did make an exception when I knocked out your little bitch of a boy toy." He said with a smirk. She balled up her fist in rage, but then she took a step back and walked away. The two detectives shrugged and got up. They took there suit coats off the backs of there chairs and walked to the elevator with Rick. When they left the building Rick turned to the two cops. "What is up with her? And what happened to my bank robbery theory?" he said as they walked across the street to the pub on the corner. _

"_I don't know? Nothing happened over the weekend then we get another dead rich guy and she comes up with the same theory that Demming did when you kicked his ass." Said Esposito. _

"_I hope she knows it's a crazy theory. It makes as much sense as me saying it's a woman killer because the victims are all men. What's happened to her?" Rick said. _

"_I have no idea? She was fine until you left. Then she got real ragged. I don't know what it is. It's not like she's not getting any. I mean if she was a guy I would ask if his girlfriend was withholding." Said Ryan with a laugh, but stopped when he saw the other two didn't find it funny._

"_No she started acting funny after Jordan answered the door Friday morning." Rick said shaking his head. _

"_Jordan answered the door? What was Jordan doing answering your door?" Esposito asked with a smirk. _

"_She came over for dinner with her daughter Kelly, and we got drunk and she slept in the guest bedroom. We had breakfast the next morning and she took the girls to the mall. But she answered the door in a robe... That's it! She's jealous of Jordan." Said Rick_

"_Well I kind of didn't help things much. I told her you had a date with Jordan." Said Esposito. _

"_I still don't get it she's with the pretty boy what does it matter if our boy here is getting some federal heat." Said Ryan. The other two laughed at him._

"_Speaking of federal heat. I have something to show you guys." said Rick as he pulled the ID holder out and dropped it on the table. Ryan picked it up and looked at the FBI shield._

"_Where did you get this Castle?" Ryan asked as he handed it to his partner. _

"_It was handed to me today by Jordan. There's a spot opening up on her team, and she offered it to me." Rick said. _

"_What! How?" Asked Esposito. _

"_I wouldn't be a full agent, but I would carry a gun and hold the title of Junior field agent. Then next summer I can take the tests and become a full field agent." Rick said with a shrug. _

"_That's great bro! this is awesome." Said Ryan._

"_Yeah, but I haven't excepted yet." said Rick. _

"_Why?" Asked Ryan. _

"_Beckett?" Esposito asked Rick as he handed him back the black ID holder. _

"_Well her, and it would mean leaving the team for good." Rick said. _

"_You need to forget about her dude, you can't turn this down. This is huge. You would work under the best profiler in the world. You can't turn that down. We will be fine without you." Ryan said. _

"_I have to agree with him, this is huge. You can't turn this down for Beckett. What are you going to do? Work strange crime scenes with us, and have Beckett ignore you for another two years?" Esposito asked. _

"_I don't know? I've worked hard to bring her walls down, but then Demming steps in and hooks up with her? There was a time when I thought she was going to be the third Mrs. Castle. This new crazy attitude is not helping her at all, that's not the woman I fell for. She reminds me of a crazy person. You know, I'm not sure if it was worth the last two years. I mean it was worth working with you guys, we caught a lot of bad guys." Rick said. _

"_I agree, it was fun working with you, but now you need to move on." Said Ryan. _

"_Yeah Bro, besides, Shaw's hot. You should hit that." Esposito said and Ryan fist bumped him. _

"_You guys act like five year olds. God I'm going to miss you guys so much." Rick said fake wiping away tears. _

"_Does that mean your going to take the job?" Asked Ryan_

"_Yeah. I always wanted to be a cop, and now I can live the dream. I just want you guys to know that I'll be having a poker game, twice a month for all my friends at the precinct." Rick said. The two other guys cheered. "And you guys are going to keep me in the loop about this case?" he asked. _

"_Yeah, we can do that. But why do you care?" Ryan asked._

"_Because if She's wrong, I have a safety deposit box with a finger print scanner." Rick said looking down at his thumb. _

"_Oh, yeah that would suck." Said Ryan. Rick turned to find Esposito with a serious look on his face. _

"_You know your theory is better. I would take the job offer so you can start carrying." Esposito said. _

"_That's a good point. I'm going back tomorrow, and taking the job. I'm then coming back to work. I feel like I started this case I should finish it." Rick said with conviction. _

_The next day, just after noon, Rick was standing by the security check point at the FBI field office waiting for Jordan to come down to let him in. He was wearing a black three button suit, a white shirt, and a red tie. He had dark sunglasses tucked into his jacket pocket, and he was wearing black Italian leather shoes. He looked very much like an agent. Jordan stepped off the elevator and did a double take. It took all she had not to laugh at Rick's appearance. She walked up to the desk and Rick was caught staring. Jordan was in her new dark blue business suit with the short skirt, and high heels. Her jacket was unbuttoned along with the top three buttons of her white silk blouse. Her red hair was flowing around her head like wild fire. Rick swallowed audibly. _

_It was at that moment that he decided to ask Jordan out on a date. Then a thought hit him, he had been on four dates with Jordan already. Rick Castle knew he had been set up. But as ticked off as he should have felt about being manipulated, he wasn't. In fact he thought the whole thing was funny. He also thought about the fact that the first date pressure was off. He knew he would have a good time with Jordan. "Hey Tim he's fine, let him in." She said to the big man blocking his entrance. She then turned to Rick. "Wow that was fast. I didn't expect you back so soon. I must also complement you on looking the part of an agent, I don't think anyone has showed up on their first day looking this stereotypical" she said as they walked to the elevator. _

"_Why thank you Jordan. As for me showing up so soon, it was an easier decision then I first thought. Alexis told me to go for it. I told her about the danger, but she said that I put my self in danger all the time working with Beckett. She said now at least I would have a gun. And the guys were really supportive about it. They said I should take the job, and get the chance to work under the best in the world. So here I am. Where do I sign?" Rick said as they walked into Jordan's office. _

"_Woe, hold up tiger. Did you talk to Beckett about the situation?" she said as she got a stack of papers out of the desk. _

"_No, but I'm done pining after her so it doesn't matter what she has to say about it." He said as he sat in front of her desk. _

"_It matters because she was your partner. She has a right to know that your leaving." Jordan said. _

"_I'll talk to her today, but I'm signing up now. I've waited twenty years to be a cop, I'm walking out of here as an agent. Besides she has never acknowledged me as her partner before, maybe she can finally get a real cop for a partner." Said Rick with disdain. _

"_Okay, as long as you promise to talk to her today. The rest of the process is just signing forms and wavers. This page shows that as a junior agent you will be making next to nothing, but that doesn't matter to you." she said with a laugh as he sighed it with excitement. She put the next form in front of him. "This is the permit for a firearm, I'll put this through today and you will get a standard issue Sig Sauer 229 as soon as tomorrow morning. If you don't like the Sig you can buy a different gun from one of the six gun dealers in the city that we work with. The only requirement for a gun is that it takes FBI standard issue 9mm ammo. The next form is your health insurance…" this continued for the next hour. Until the last form was put in front of Rick. "and lastly we have the form that says you are taking possession of this ID badge that makes you a agent." She said as she opened up her desk drawer and pulled out a plastic card with his picture on it. He signed the form and she handed it to him. He took out his ID holder from his inside jacket pocket and slid it in to the window. He looked at his badge, and cracked the biggest smile. "It's now official. You're Junior FBI Field Agent Richard Castle from now on. Let me be the first to congratulate you agent Castle." said Jordan as she stood up and shook his hand, but Rick pulled her into a hug. _

"_Can I take you out to dinner tonight to celebrate?" he asked. _

"_I wish I could but I have to take my class out into the field for a mock night crime scene. But how about tomorrow? We could take the girls with us to a fancy restaurant." Jordan said. _

"_I kind of wanted to take you out, like on a date?" he said. _

"_Oh, um okay." she said with a blush. _

"_Besides it wont be our first date. I don't know if you've caught on to the girls' scheming yet, but we've been set up." he said._

"_I have, but I liked it so I went along with it. I figured it out during the spa visit the girls took me on. They spent the whole time dropping hints that they wanted us to go out. I think it's sweet. So you want to take me out on a date tomorrow?" she asked with a smirk. _

"_God yes. You're a beautiful woman Jordan, and it would be an absolute honor to escort you to dinner and a movie, or we could watch a few movies at my house with the girls." he said. _

"_Sounds like fun. I'll see you tomorrow, and we'll work out a schedule for you. Plus tomorrow morning I'll go with you to the cage to sign over your gun." she said as she walked him to the door of her office. _

"_Thank you for everything. I look forward to tomorrow." he said as he left. He spotted an agent walking down the hall, he flipped open his badge and showed it to her. "I'm a junior field agent." he said excitedly, but she just kept walking. He strutted up to the elevator and hit the down button. There were two agents in the elevator when he stepped on. "I'm Agent Castle, FBI." he said flashing his badge to the two agents. The female agent just rolled her eyes and stepped off the elevator. The male agent turned to him. _

"_Just got your badge?" he asked with a smirk. _

"_It's that obvious?" Rick asked. _

"_Yep, but don't worry. I did the same thing when I was handed my badge. You should get one of these." the other agent said as he showed Rick the gold shield clipped on to his belt. "It's a big hit with the ladies. Trust me." he said with a nod. _

"_oh, I like that. How can I get one of those?" Rick asked. _

"_Downstairs next to the gun cage is a supply counter. I'd suggest you get one of these and an FBI wind-breaker." said the other agent as he walked away. _

_When Rick stepped off the elevator of the twelfth precinct the fourth floor was a buzz of activity, he spotted Ryan and walked over to him. "Hey what's going on here?"_

"_They caught the guy. He was driving around in an old van with a gun, a hacksaw, and a shovel." said Ryan. Then he turned around and laughed at what he saw. Rick was all decd out in FBI swag. He had on the windbreaker, the ball cap, the shield pin on his lapel of his suit jacket, and the shield with the belt clip on his belt. _

"_What? Too much?." Rick asked._

"_I'd lose the hat and jacket." Ryan said. _

"_Where's Beckett?" Rick asked as he took off the hat and jacket. _

"_She's talking over interrogation strategy with the other two FBI agents that showed up this morning." Ryan said._

"_Agents? What are they doing here?" Rick said._

"_They showed up this morning saying that since this is a serial killer we are dealing with they should have been brought on to the case last week. They were real jerks about it." Ryan said. _

"_I'll see you in a minute." Rick said as he walked off in the direction of the break room. When he walked into the room he saw Kate pacing in front of two men in black suits. "Detective I hear you caught the guy?" he said as he walked up to her. _

"_Yeah we caught the guy with a gun and hack saw. I hate to be the one to say I told you so but, I TOLD YOU SO!" she said in victory. _

"_I wouldn't get too cocky you haven't even talked to the guy yet. I will concede that you stopped a murder. But the question is, does he have a collection of thumbs at home?" Rick asked._

"_I hate to break up this little moment you two are having but we have a suspect to question." One of the agents said in a snotty voice. _

"_Are these two giving you a hard time Beckett?" Rick asked _

"_Yes, they're only interested in making an arrest, I just want to question my suspect, but they said that it's an FBI case now." she said in frustration. _

"_I'll take care of them, don't worry, you'll be talking to the guy in a minute." Rick said to her. "What are your names?" Rick asked them._

"_Why. Who's asking?" Replied the smart ass agent._

"_Agent Richard Castle, FBI. That's who's asking." He said flashing his badge. He didn't see the look of shock on Kate's face. "I want to know so that when I talk to my boss special agent Jordan Shaw, I can recommend that you two be assigned desk duty for awhile." said Rick._

"_You work for agent Shaw?" the quiet agent asked._

"_Yes, now why are you giving this detective a hard time? Do you want to catch a killer or do you want to look like asses because you took too long arguing over who's going to talk to the guy, and he had time to lawyer up?" Rick asked them. "Now I want your Names." Rick said as he pulled out his phone. _

"_My name is Agent Richard O'Brian, and I don't care if you work for agent Shaw you can't do anything." said the snotty guy. _

_Rick called Jordan's cell. "We'll see about that" _

"_Agent Shaw." she answered. _

"_Agent Shaw this is Agent Castle, I'm standing in front of the biggest jerk I've ever seen. He said his name is agent Dick O'Brian, and I wanted to ask you, seeing as I'm new to the whole agent thing, if it was standard practice to be an ass to the lead detective. And to take so long arguing over who's going to talk to the suspect that he had time to call a lawyer?" Rick asked innocently._

"_What! Put him on the phone right now." Jordan yelled. Rick turned to agent O'Brian and handed him the phone. He then turned to Beckett and saw the shocked look on her face. _

"_Beckett… Kate, I was offered a job and I took it. I know I should have asked your opinion, but it was too good a deal to pass up. We will talk later but right now let me help you by getting rid of these idiots." Rick said softly. He then turned around and took the Phone that was offered to him. "Yes?" he asked._

"_Agent Castle you are now the lead FBI investigator on this case and if this guy turns out to be the killer, you can come into the office tomorrow, but if he's not then I will send out a team to work with you and detective Beckett. Knock this one out of the park Rick and I can promise you that no one will say a dam thing to you next week about you not going to Quantico. See you later, and keep me posted. Also tell those two boneheads to report to my office right now." Jordan said in a huff. _

"_Will do boss." He said as he hung up. He then looked at the other two agents. "Agent Shaw said to report to her office right now. I would get a move on guys she sounded really mad." Rick said with a smirk. The silent agent got up and walked out of the room, but Dick got up in Rick's face. _

"_This isn't over, Castle. Not by a long shot." O'Brian said. _

"_Yes it is. Leave this precinct before I have to forcibly remove you. Now I'm going to turn around and get some coffee. If your not out of this room by the time I turn back around, I will kick the shit out of you." said Rick as he turned around and went to the espresso machine. _

_Kate stood there looking shocked as the agent beat a hasty retreat. "What's gotten in to you Castle?" she asked shocked. _

"_I think it's mostly the badge, but the suit is a big confidence booster too" he said as he took a sip of coffee. "I am definitely going to need to get one of these for the profiler division." he said as he savored the flavor. _

"_Now that there gone can I go question my suspect?" Kate asked._

"_You can, but I have to sit in on it, and ask questions. Jordan made me lead FBI liaison, and Kate if this guy is not our killer than Jordan is going to send out a team. That's the best I can do." He said as they walked to the interrogation room. _

"_When am I going to be able to talk to you about this?" She asked pointing at the badge on his belt. _

"_How about I buy you dinner at the pub across the street, and you can ask me anything?" he asked standing by the door to the interrogation room._

"_Okay." she said as she opened the door and walked in to the room. "hello Sam, can I call you Sam?" she asked with a smile. _

"_I guess?" Sam said. _

"_Well Sam, I have to ask you why you were driving around with a gun and a hacksaw?" she asked as she took a seat on the other side of the table. _

"_I was, um." Sam froze up. _

"_Let me help you there Sam. You were on the hunt for the next rich guy to kill and take his finger. Right Sam?" Rick asked with a helpful smile._

"_What? No! what are you talking about?" Sam asked confused. _

"_Lets start with your first victim, your boss." Kate said as she tossed the pictures from the first crime scene on the table. Sam looked at the pictures and turned green. _

"_I didn't do that." he said. _

"_Maybe you don't remember your first but how about the next three?" she asked as she kept tossing pictures on the table. _

"_No! stop! I didn't do anything." Sam yelled. _

"_Then explain the gun and the saw!" Kate yelled back. _

"_I Can't!." Sam said. Rick put his hand on Kate's arm. She looked at him and he shook his head. _

"_Sam, your wife was not the woman you thought she was when you married her, was she?" Rick said as he stood up, and moved his chair around to sit next to Sam._

"_No, I thought she loved me, but the second I was fired she kicked me out." Sam said. _

"_She kicked you out of your own house? That's just cold. I bet that made you mad. Did it make you mad Sammy?" Rick asked._

"_Yes, she thinks she can just throw me out? I won't be made a fool of again." Sam muttered. _

"_You were on your way over to your house, weren't you Sammy? You were made to look like a fool one too many times in the same week, and there was no way you were going to let her get away with that. So you watched TV, and saw a cop show where a guy just like you, killed his wife and buried her, but the guy got caught because they found her body. So you thought, what if she was in little pieces? What if I put her in two different places? Would it be that hard to saw her up into little chunks? She only weighs a hundred pounds. So you got a van, and a gun. Your were going home to take out the trash weren't you Sam?" Rick asked. _

"_Yes." Sam said as he started to cry. Rick got up, and walked out of the room. Kate followed him out as she had one of the uniform officers take Sam away for conspiracy to commit murder. _

"_How did you know?" Kate asked him. _

"_I could see it in his face, he was shocked when you showed him the pictures. Plus the thumbs were cut off by bolt cutters not a hack saw." he said as he watched Samuel Fry get hulled out in cuffs. _

"_Well that just sucks. Now we're back to square one. We have no motive, we have no suspects, and we have no clue where to go from here." Kate said in frustration as she sat in her chair and Rick took his old seat. She looked at him. "Let's see it." she said. _

_Rick looked up "What?" he asked. _

"_Let me see it, you've been dieing to show me it since you walked into the break room." She said with a smirk that didn't reach her eyes._

_Rick reached in to his suit coat and pulled out his black ID holder. He flipped it open and handed it to her. She took it in her hands and looked it over. "I can never get over just how small the shield on these things are." she said absently as she traced the small gold shield with her long thin finger._

"_Well it's not the size of your shield, it's the power behind the badge that counts." he said with a smirk. "lets go, there's nothing you can do here. You have no leads and you're not open to my theory's right now so let me buy you a burger." he said as he stood up and helped her to her feet. _

"_Fine, but I want the whole story." she said as they walked onto the elevator. _

_AN: I loved writing the Rick showing off his badge, and pulling rank on the other agent. Those are two of the ten scenes I came up with that prompted me to change the direction of the plot line to Rick being an agent. I could see him doing that, walking down the hall in the FBI building flashing his new badge and saying "Rick castle FBI!" it's so in character for him. _

_I would also like to say thank you to the few people that are still reading this thing. So far this story is getting less hits per day than my story that's on hiatus. That fact is just sad, funny, but sad. I would also like to say thank you to the people that took time to review. I always said I wrote for me, but I think I'm starting to miss the kind of reviews I get for my other stories. So for the ten people that are still reading this, prepare for the fight scene! TBH _


	8. Of arguing & fighting

Chapter 8

Of arguing & fighting

Rick looked at Beckett sitting across the small pub table from him. "You look tired Kate. Have you been sleeping at all?" he asked with real concern.

"Yes!…okay, okay, no guilty puppy dog looks, no. This case is running me ragged. I can't seam to stop thinking about the 'IF's'. Maybe if I had more evidence, or if they got sloppy. I think about the next body that we'll find and hope that there isn't one, but if there is they at least leave a clue. I keep thinking that maybe I would have more leads if I hadn't thrown you out. If you were with us you might have a better lead. I haven't slept in days." she said as she momentarily lost her composure, but he acted like he didn't see the tears in her bloodshot eyes.

"I gave you my best theory already. This is the set up to a bank heist. We are looking for someone that works in a high security bank. We are looking for someone that has military training, and or did some time in prison. This is not just one guy. It's a team of three or four. One inside man, one cold blooded killer, and one person with medical training. Not a doctor, but an EMT, or a vet to keep the thumbs fresh. There may be one other guy that's driving the van, but I don't think so. They are not psychopaths, there criminals. The use of bolt cutters to remove the thumbs tells me they do it quick. I'll call Jordan tonight and tell her we need a team. Our best lead is to look at bank staff. None of these banks will give us a list of clients with safety deposit boxes, but they will hand over the staff list. We'll work from there." Rick said, laying out his game plan.

"So can I ask you about the agent thing?" she asked.

"I did say you could ask me anything what do you want to know?" He asked as he took a bite of his burger.

"How did this happen? I didn't even know you wanted to be in law enforcement." She asked as she ate a french-fry. She needed to figure out what the hell happened.

"Actually I've always wanted to be a cop. I grew up watching the Rockford Files and Colombo. I was going to join the academy, but Meredith got pregnant and I took a job as a school teacher." He said.

"You were a school teacher?" She asked shocked, and really confused.

"Yeah, I thought I told you that. I taught high school English for two years until I sold my first book. Anyways I never got to be a cop. I told all this to Jordan last week Thursday, and she looked into my background. It turns out that her partner, Avery is getting a promotion so she worked out a deal for me to be kind of like her apprentice. I have the title of junior agent, and next summer at Quantico I'll take all of the exams and move up to a field agent. I don't know how to become a special agent yet, but I'll try to move up in the ranks." he said as he took a sip of his beer.

"So you're an agent now? What are you going to be doing?" she asked, digging out the story she had missed over the week.

"I'm not sure yet. This is the first day I have the badge. She said I would be doing the same thing I did with you. You know work cases and build theory. I could be getting her coffee and I would be happy. I'm getting a gun tomorrow. I can't wait." He said excitedly.

"What about Nikki Heat? Are you going to continue it, or are you giving up writing?" she asked.

"Well the Heat series is getting hard to write, but I have two more books done and I don't know if I want to write anymore. I might start writing again in a year or so. I'm not sure. I will always be a writer, but I don't think I want to do anymore Heat books." he said sadly.

"So you and Jordan?" she asked in a hurt voice.

"No, well not until today. The girls set us up on a few dates, but today was the first time I asked her out." he said.

"So do you love her?" She asked sarcastically.

"I don't know. It's too new for me to say. Why?" He asked confused.

"I was just curious, that's all. I mean you gave up the team and your life as a writer for her, so you must be in love, or stupid." she defended. Giving him a condescending smile

"So you and Tom, do you love him?" he asked back in the same tone.

"No, but I think I can live with him. He's on honorable man unlike some men I know." she said looking at Rick with disdain.

"Because that's the stuff dreams are made of." He said sarcastically.

"What do you know about love and commitment? You're a womanizing, playboy!" she said.

"And that's why I gave up on you." he mumbled in to his beer. He then raised his hand and ordered another one.

"What did you say?" She asked indignantly.

"I said and that's why I gave up on you." he repeated.

"Like you even had a chance." she said making a disgusted face.

"Oh get off your high horse. You think your so great, but your not. Your not any better than every other emotionally scarred woman out there. You know when I knew it would never work out between us? When me and your boy toy were at each others throats. You thought he was going to take me out. Not once did you think I could stand up to him. It was at that point that I realized you had no idea just how strong I was. We worked together for two years and you have no idea what I even look like." He said heatedly.

"So now we worked together? I seem to recall you getting in my way all the time. How many arrests have you made? OH! that's right, your not a cop!" She went for a kill shot. She knew that reminding him he was a civilian would twist the knife. But she was wrong.

"And that's it isn't it? The one thing you always lorded over me. The one thing preventing you from seeing me as a partner in more then one way, right? It's because I'm not a cop. Right? Is it because I don't have a badge Kate? Well I have a badge now." he said throwing his FBI badge onto the table. "Am I good enough now? Am I fuckable now Kate. Do you see me now?" he asked sarcastically. The last week had him questioning his decisions to work with her, and pine after her. Now more then ever, he asked himself what he saw in her.

"You know why I don't look at you like that? Because your not good enough for me. The second I'd let you in you'd leave me for the next pair of walking breast implants!" she yelled at him. She got up, ready to storm out.

"You know what Kate? You already let me in, and you know what I've found? You're not worth my time. You never were. I wasted two years trying to tear down your walls, to get to know you, and you know what I've seen? There's nothing there. You're a cold, emotionless bitch. Besides your probably a boring lay anyway. Have a nice unhappy life Kate, it's what your good at." he said as she walked passed him.

She spun around and slapped him across the face. "Fuck you, you Man-whoring Bastard!" she yelled at him. She then ran out of the bar.

"Well that fucking hurt. I never would have thought she would call me a bastard. It's not like I said anything about her dead mother. Oh well. Check please!" he said to the waitress as he rubbed his jaw. She came up to him and handed him a receipt. He glanced at it. $35. He handed the girl a hundred dollar bill. "Keep the change. I'm sorry about the shouting match." he said kindly to the young woman.

"That's okay, thank you." she said as she walked away with the plates. Rick put his badge away and pulled out his cell phone. He called Jordan.

"Agent Shaw." she said.

"Jordan it's me Rick. I just had a big fight with Beckett, and I don't think I can work with her again." he said sadly as he walked out of the pub. It was a cool mid-June night, so he decided to walk for a bit.

"Oh Richard, that's terrible. Are you okay?" she asked softly.

"Yeah, but I think I'm going to walk for awhile I need to clear my head. I'll see you tomorrow in your office. Your going to have to send a team down here to figure this out. Beckett's walking around with her head up her ass. I don't trust her to find her own car keys, let alone a team of killers." he said.

"Come in tomorrow, and we'll figure it out. Okay?" she asked.

"Sure, I'll see you tomorrow, good night Jordan." he said as he hung up.

Two blocks later he was aware of two things, one, a guy dressed in all black was following him, and two, a white panel van kept up their pace. He decided to play up the fact that he was just in a bar. So he intentionally stumbled on the cracked side walk, and took a turn down a side street. They kept up with him. He saw an alley, and decided to see who these guys were. He walked into the alley, and acted like he was taking a piss. He picked a big dumpster to stand behind, then he waited. The guy came up behind him, and he herd the sound of a gun's safety click off. That's when he made his move.

Rick spun to his right and with his left hand he smacked the gun sideways. The gun went off and the bullet grazed his side. Rick grabbed the bottom of the gun handle in his left hand and twisted it up snapping the guys finger with the trigger guard. He then brought his right hand down on the guys forearm. This served two purposes, one, it broke the guys forearm in half, and two, the jerk of his arm made the guy pull the trigger and shoot himself in the shoulder. As the guy fell to the floor Rick kept his grip on the gun. He looked down at the gun in his hand and saw it was a Beretta. "Dumb fucking luck." he said.

He then herd foot steps running in his direction from the way he came in. Rick crouched down behind the dumpster, and peeked around. He saw two more guys in all black with guns. "This must be the pop and drop crew." he mumbled. He took a deep breath, and peaked around the dumpster again with the gun. He shot six times hitting the two men in the legs, and putting them on the ground. He came out from behind the cover of the dumpster with the gun up at the ready like he saw Beckett do so many times in the past. "FBI! Put your hands up!" he yelled. One of the guys dropped his gun and put up his hands on his head. The other guy, however, kept his gun trained on Rick. "I said drop it! Now!" Rick repeated. But the guy didn't listen. Rick took aim, and shot the guy in the arm. He then stepped up to the two downed men and kicked there guns away down the alley. "How many more in the van?" He asked the guy that surrendered.

"No one, we came to get the body." he said panting from the pain in his legs.

"Did you guys kill those other four men, and take there thumbs?" Rick asked.

"yes." the guy said.

"Were you going to rob our safety deposit boxes using our thumbs?" Rick asked.

"Yes." the guy said.

"I knew it!" Rick pulled out his phone and called 911.

"911 emergency dispatch, how may I assist you?" the woman responded.

"This is agent Rick Castle, FBI. Shots fired in the alley off the corner of 34th and 13th, three men down and I'm wounded. Could you send some EMT's and get in contact with detective Esposito out of the 12th precinct and tell him I found his pop and drop crew." Rick said as calmly as he could. The adrenaline was wearing off and his side was really starting to hurt.

"Hold please… EMT's and patrol cars are on route to your location. We have detective Esposito on the line.

"Castle, you okay?" Esposito's voice came over the phone.

"Yeah I think. The guys we were looking for came after me. I was walking home from a pub and I noticed a guy following me," Rick was cut off by three cop cars screeching to a stop at the mouth of the alley. "I got to go now the uniforms just showed up. Call Jordan and tell her what happened." Rick said as cop's stormed into the alley.

"We're on our way there hold tight bro we're a few blocks out." Esposito said as the phone went dead.

The first cop into the alley pointed his gun at Rick. "Drop the gun!"

Rick looked down and saw he was still holding the gun. "Oh, sorry about that." he said as he bent over and put the gun on the ground. When he stood up he put his hands up. "My name is Richard Castle, I'm a federal agent." Rick said. By this point the other cops had spread out to cover the downed men.

"Are you hurt?" The cop said as he put his gun away and walked over to Rick.

"The first shot grazed me." Rick said, and he hoped the officer couldn't hear the tremor in his voice. Rick pulled out his badge and stumbled. His vision went black and the officer grabbed him.

Rick woke up in a hospital bed, in a dark room. He looked around and saw Alexis asleep in a chair next to his bed, She was holding his hand. He looked over to the other occupied seats and saw Jordan sitting on the couch holding Kelly. The last person in the room was detective Kevin Ryan reading one of his books, using the light coming from the cracked open door. "You know it's a lot easier to read with the light on?" Rick asked with a smirk.

Ryan nodded his head in agreement, then his head shot up and he looked at Rick with a smile. "Your up! I'll call the doctor." he was up out of his chair and out the door before Rick even herd what he said. Alexis' head popped up and she looked at her dad.

"Your awake!" she hugged Rick tight.

"of course I am, why what happened?" Rick asked. By this point Jordan and Kelly were up and by his bed.

"You were shot in the side. It was a through and through, but you lost a lot of blood. They patched you up but it was touch and…" Jordan didn't finish because she got choked up and Rick held out his hand for her. She took it and he used all the strength in him to pull her into bed with him, and hugged her. He looked up at Alexis and lifted his other arm. Before he said anything she was at his side hugging his right arm. She didn't clime onto the bed like Jordan did because his wound was on his right side and she didn't want to hurt him. He looked at Kelly and called her over with a shake of his head. She came to the side Alexis was on and hugged the other girl, and held Rick's hand. The door opened and the doctor came in. He took one look at the women around Rick and asked them to step back so he could look at him.

"Well it looks like your stitches are holding good, and the wound looks like its healing. I'm going to add an antibiotic to your IV just to be sure." the man in the white coat said.

"How long will I be here?" Rick asked.

"I would like to keep you here for a week. Like I said your healing good and I want to keep an eye on it. I also don't want you getting an infection." The doctor said as he wrote something down on a metal clipboard.

"Great. Thanks doc." Rick said as the doctor left. The women all went back to there spots. Ryan walked in and saw the women and tried to leave without them noticing. "Ryan, I want an update on my collars." Said Rick. Ryan turned back and found Rick sitting up with Jordan sitting next to him in the bed, and the girls sitting in chairs.

"Lets see. We got the guys in a secure wing in this hospital. You got the first guy in the shoulder, and you broke his index finger, and his forearm. He pled guilty to, killing the first two victims. The next guy you got in the right leg twice and once in the left. He was the contact in the bank. He worked security." Ryan said.

"Was he ex-military?" Rick asked. Ryan looked through his notes and nodded. "I Knew it, he was also the guy that handled the bolt cutters right.?" again Ryan looked over his notes.

"Yeah, he pled guilty to cutting off the thumbs, and planning the robbery. How did you know that?" Ryan asked.

"The planning of the whole thing it was precise, calculated. They hit the rich guys and moved the bodies. No evidence, and the use of bolt cutters. They could have done that a lot of different ways, but bolt cutters told me that while the guy was violent, he took no pleasure in doing what he did. That's a solders mind set." explained Rick. Jordan had a big smile on her face. She was right he could do the job better then half the field agents she had on her team.

"The last guy was a real piece of work. You got him twice in the right leg, and once in the left. Then one right in the collarbone. That one I must say is nasty. This guy spent time in prison for killing someone, and spent time in a mental institution before that for torturing small animals. He hasn't talked since he came in, but his friends rolled on him for the other deals. He did the other two murders. All in all you did good Castle. Three arrests on your first day as a Fed. You get some kind of medal for that right?" Ryan asked Jordan.

"Yes, even though this is turning in to a media circus. The press want a statement from you at your earliest convenience. All that aside Rick will be getting a comandation for being wounded in the line of duty. And the three arrests will go on his record, making it easier for him to get full agent status. I think it's also a record to shoot three criminals without even being issued a gun yet." she finished with a joke.

Rick laughed and groaned. "It hurts when I laugh." he said. He then yawned.

"I think it's time for Agent Castle to get some sleep. Good night Rick." Said Jordan as she turned over and went to plant a kiss on his cheek, but Rick turned his head and kissed her on the lips. It started off slow but a few seconds into it Jordan kissed back with the same intensity. There was a clearing of throats and they broke apart. Rick turned to find the girls blushing and giggling. Jordan stood up and walked over to the door. "Say goodbye girls Rick needs his rest." she said as Kelly got up and hugged Rick.

"I'm glad your alright Rick. Get well soon, okay?" Kelly said softly as she joined her mom by the door.

Alexis hugged her dad and rested her head on his shoulder. "Are you staying by yourself at home?" he asked.

"No Jordan and Kelly are spending the night untill Gram can get back tomorrow. I was so scared dad. I thought you were going to die." She said as she sobbed.

"It's okay Pumpkin, I'm okay. And I sware I'll try not to get shot again, it really hurts." he said. Alexis laughed a little. "I'm not going anywhere honey. And from now on I'll be wearing a vest if I get into bad situations. Plus I'll have the best FBI agent watching my back, and I'll have a gun. If I had a gun, I wouldn't be laying here right now. I'm actually really mad that I got shot. I'm getting slower in my old age." he said sadly.

"Dad your not that old. Your only 39. That's not old at all, and your in shape." said Alexis.

"I also didn't get a chance to tell you girls thank you for setting me and Jordan up. I like her. I asked her out before the whole shooting, and she said yes." He told Alexis.

"That's great dad! I like her too, plus I think Kelly's my sister in all things but blood. Now get some rest Gram will be here tomorrow and she will want answers as to how you were shot. So rest up. And I love you dad." Said Alexis as she hugged her father. She pulled away and walked out of the room. Rick looked down at his bandaged side and sighed, no matter what his daughter said he was getting slower. He made a deal with himself to hit the gym more. He looked at the clock on the wall, it was past two in the morning. He sighed and rolled over. He was asleep in seconds.

AN: first up I would like to say thank you for the reviews. They make writing more fun. Next up I'm still getting reviews and PM's from Caskett fans telling me to put the two of then together. No. I'm a big Caskett fan, and I can see how I could fit that ship in, I'm not going to. I set out to do a non-Caskett fic and that's what this is going to be. That dose not mean that Kate wont get extremely jealous and try to break up Rick and Jordan. That is going to come up in four chapters. I'm also going to get back to the development of the Rick/Jordan ship. Outlining the next few chapters is going good and I hope this up coming weekend is going to be productive.


	9. Of Requests & Honor

Disclaimer: Not Mine!

Chapter 9

Of Requests & Honor

Rick had a lot of visitors over the first three days he was in the hospital, but on the second day he made a huge discovery. During Karpowski's visit he mentioned that the food was crappy. Ryan, the next person that came in. Had a bag of take out with him. As he ate his cheese burger he asked Ryan how he knew he wanted one.

"Karpowski told me that the food sucked, so I got this on the way over." Ryan said.

"Cool thanks. Now all I need is something to do. Any suggestions?" Rick asked.

"How about I bring you your laptop from home?" Ryan asked.

"That would be awesome, but you don't have to go all the way to my house to get it, I'll just call Alexis and have her bring it when my mother comes here later." Rick said.

"Are you sure because I could get it for you. It's no big deal, just say the words and I can have it here in twenty minutes." Ryan said.

"No, you don't have to do that." Rick assured him, but he was shocked by Ryan's answer.

"Yes I do. You don't know do you? It's a cop thing, if one of us are in the hospital the rest of us have to give them whatever they ask for… within reason." Ryan explained.

"What? What do you mean ask for?" Rick asked.

"Okay you know how at the beginning of the Godfather, Don Veto can't refuse a request on the day of his daughters wedding?" Ryan asked.

"Yeah." Rick said not following him.

"It's like that. You want food? We bring it. You want entertainment? We bring you Xbox. Hell I've heard roomers of cops asking for vengeance, and drug dealers going missing you know what I mean?" Ryan said conspiratorially.

"Wow! I had no idea. You said I can ask for anything within reason, what's off limits?" Rick asked. This was awesome, he had no idea that this went on.

"Well, um. I've herd about a guy getting shot and asking a hot chick cop for sex, that was an instance where his request was turned down, but I have herd about a guy asking for 'entertainment' and three working girls being sent up to his room. It also goes by closeness to the downed cop. You could ask any cop, like Karpowski, for better food, but you couldn't ask her for anything too big. Where as if you asked me, lets just say the sky's the limit. Same goes for Esposito, and I guess Beckett. The only other person you could make big requests of would be the captain. He looks out for us like a second father. You would make the revenge request to him." Ryan explained.

"So, I could ask any cop for better food?" Rick asked.

"Yep." Ryan said.

"And I could ask you to go in the other room and off the three guys that came in with me?" Rick asked in shock.

"Is that something your asking for, because I don't know if I could. Maybe Esposito would?" Ryan said shifting uncomfortably.

"No! I would never ask for stuff like that, but it's cool to know that I could. Well cool, and scary." Rick said mildly freaked out.

"Yeah, but it's like I said I don't know for sure about that part, I've only heard roomers." Ryan said.

"So I could ask you to go out and find me three busty blonds and you'd show up an hour later with the ladies? Wow. What if the person I want to make my request to doesn't show up here?" Rick asked.

"You could request an audience with them, and they have to come. It's an honor thing." Ryan said with a smirk.

"That is so cool. Request an audience… It's so formal." Rick said with a laugh.

"Well this stuff is old school. I think it goes back to like medieval times and stuff. You know? Like a knight wounded in battle? That's another thing, you don't get all this respect for stuff like crashing your car off duty, or shooting your self in the foot. This only goes for stuff like this." Ryan said waving to Rick in bed. " and you're going to get a lot of respect. You took down three killers, off duty, without a gun, and it was your first collar. Dude you have like the triple crown of being shot. I'm surprised that Martinez isn't here servicing you right now." Ryan said with a laugh.

"You mean that hot uni. Chick that's always hanging around the bullpen, even though she works narcotics? I thought she was after Esposito?" Rick said confused.

"No bro. she wants you. Esposito tried to put the moves on her and she flat out told him to back off. She said, and I quote, "she was waiting for you to stop chasing, The ugly giraffe, and come sample the Mexican taco platter" I'm telling you bro. that girl is on fire, and she's got that raunchy chick cop edge. You should definitely hit that if you're not with Shaw." Ryan said.

"No, I want to see if me and Jordan have anything going." Rick said "So any ways, back to what you were saying. Say I want Beckett to bring me a stake dinner in a sexy little red dress she has to do it?" Rick asked thinking about getting revenge for the bastard comment.

"Well I guess, the dinner for sure. If you ask her to bring you dinner she has to do it. As for the dress? It's up to her. But she should in my opinion. She was your partner, and it's not like your asking for sex. I say do it and see what happens." Ryan said with a laugh.

"I Don't know, I'm hurt as it is, I don't think she's above hitting a guy in a hospital bed." Rick said back. They hung out for a little while longer then Ryan left. An hour later Esposito showed up with a fancy Starbucks coffee for Rick.

After that Rick had all of his meals brought to him. Some of it was brought by Alexis and Kelly, they came to see him every day with his mother until she had to go back to L.A. But a lot of it was brought by other cops. He had coffee and candy brought in too, well until Alexis caught on and had them stop. It seams that Rick failed to mention that Caffeine was not allowed. He had Esposito bring him a copy of the crime scene photos. He got Ryan to bring him some DVD's to watch.

Jordan stopped by on the third day and spent most of her time cuddling on the bed next to Rick watching a movie. When Ryan came in to bring him some Mexican take out Jordan asked why. Rick told her about the request thing and she liked the idea. The FBI had something like that but only the downed agent's partner came by with stuff. They also looked after the downed agent's family, that's why she and Kelly spent the first night with Alexis.

"So, who came to see you so far?" Jordan asked when Ryan left.

"Ryan and Esposito stop by every day. Karpowski stopped by two days ago, and her team stopped by yesterday." He said as he eat his last taco.

"Beckett didn't show up?" Jordan asked surprised.

"Nope, and I don't think she's coming. We said some pretty nasty things to each other during our fight. I think she's never going to talk to me again." Rick said sadly.

"Well what did you say to her?" Jordan asked.

"Well I told her she was an emotionless, frigid woman… and I may have um called her a badge whore…" Rick trailed off

"What! First of all there called Badge Bunnies, not Badge whores. I don't like that word, and secondly how could you say that to her?" Jordan said shocked.

"Well I didn't use those words exactly…"

"What did you say to her Exactly?" Jordan asked.

"I said she only goes for guys with badges, I then tossed my badge on the table and asked her if I was… um I asked if I was fuckable now. So in essence I called her a badge wh... Um bunny, But in my defense she did start it, and she call me a bastard." He said.

"That was not cool Richard. I am surprised she didn't shoot you." Jordan said looking disappointed in him.

"It was not my best moment I admit. I don't know why I said what I said. I think it had a lot to do with the fact that we worked together for two years and she knows nothing about me, well that and the look on her face when she said I never had a chance. It was like I wasted my time on her and I needed to get back at her. I'm going to request her presence here on my last day if she doesn't show up before then. I'll apologize to her. Until then I'm going to let her cool off before I talk to her." Rick said.

"Good, I don't like it when partners fight. Even ex-partners. Your partner should be closer then your siblings, like twins. You should be able to go to them for anything. After you spend time with someone in a fire fight it forms a bond. You and Beckett had a bond, I've seen it. Even though your coming to work with me, you should still maintain that connection. Now it's almost time for me to go I have a meeting in two hours, and I have a lot to do before then. This book is for you, I want you to study it." She said as she pulled out a heavy book from her big purse and put it next to his bed.

"What is it?" Rick asked as he picked it up.

"It's the book I wrote on profiling, I'm using it for the class I'm teaching. I want you to joint the class that starts in two weeks." Jordan said as she sat back down on the bed with him.

"I've read it already. But the cover looks different." He said as he put the book down.

"New printing. So you've read it? When and what did you think about it?" She asked like she was indifferent, but Rick could see she wanted to know what he thought about it, just like he wanted to hear what people thought about his books.

"I read it when it first came out like six years ago, and I thought it was total shit." Rick said.

"What!" Jordan yelled "I will have you know that this is the best book…" She trailed off when she saw Rick laughing at her. "That was not funny. Not funny at all." she said as she hit him in the arm Rick pulled her back down next to him and hugged her.

"I'm sorry, but I owed you for calling my books crap at the PTA meeting. If you want my honest opinion as one author to a another? I thought it was very informative, but a little hard to read. It was like a grad school textbook, you know? Full of information, but if you don't have a background in criminology it could feel like it was written in another language. I think it works as a training guide for agents, and cops, but if you ever want to rewrite it I would be happy to help you make it more readable to the rest of the world." He said reassuringly.

"Well I would like you to read it again anyways. Also when you get out of here and they clear you for work I want you to come into the office. We will lock down a desk and a schedule for you. Then we'll put you through your first round of testing to see where you are at this point so we know what classes we need to enroll you in." Jordan said.

"What classes?" Rick said.

"Well all junior agents are tested every month to see if they are improving then we put them in classes to help them with the stuff they don't know." Jordan replied.

"But I thought that agents learned everything at Quantico." Rick said confused.

"No that's just to get agent status. Think of it like this, going to Quantico is like going to college for your bachelors degree. You knew nothing before then, and after you come out you know some stuff. You know the basic rules, you know how to question a suspect, you can fire a gun, that kind of stuff. Then you become a junior agent and are assigned a field office. When you arrive at the field office you're assigned to a senior agent in the discipline you want to work at. Like profiling, or kidnapping, or bank robberies. Now if you have some experience already, you come in as a Junior agent, like you did. As a junior agent you attend classes taught by special agents. Think of it like grad school, because that's what it is. You study the craft with real agents in your field. The classes are very hard and small in size, so that means the instructor will pick on you a lot. You'll be studying profiling, but if you lack some skills we assign regular field agents to help you with it like a tutor. You will be tested twice a month, a written test to see if you know the laws and rules. Then there's a practical portion, that test day is long. We test you at the range, the obstacle course, and we put you in a mock situation." Jordan explained.

"So I'm going to be constantly tested?" Rick half wined.

"No you big baby. The tests are two and done. Like lets say you take the test I gave you at the range, if you can pass that twice you never have to take it again. Now that doesn't mean you can't take the class on gun handling, it just means you don't have to. The same goes for any of the other tests and classes." She explained as she got up and straitened her skirt.

"Are you going?" He asked with a pout.

"Yes, I have to go to a department meeting. I'll see you day after tomorrow though, and I want you to tell Beckett your sorry. That was not nice, you make up with her, just not too up you get me?" She said as she bent down and kissed him passionately.

"Oh I understand." He said as he caught his breath. "I'll see you later." He said as she walked out of the room.

Over the next two days Rick's steady flow of visitors slowed down. The girls still came every day to see him, and Ryan and Esposito stopped by to drop off food, but everyone else stopped coming. Jordan came over on Thursday and spent the three hours she was their cuddled up to Rick. For the first time since high school she remembered how much fun making out could be. Rick even managed to grope a boob until she took his hand away. "If you want to go there you need to buy me dinner first. Plus It's time for me to go. I have to teach a class in…" She looked down at her watch and her eyes got big. "Crap on a cracker I'm late!" she jumped off the bed and scrabbled to get her shoes on, as she buttoned her shirt.

"What time is your class?" Rick asked as he handed Jordan her jacket.

"In a half an hour, but I have to collect my books from my office and that DVD, and um?" She looked around for her bag franticly until she spotted it on one of the chairs. "Speaking of books did you read the one I dropped off?" She asked as she looked herself over in the mirror in his small bathroom.

"Yeah, I skimmed it for the buzz words to see if I remembered it. Than I went back and reread it. It's just as dry as I remember it." Rick said with a laugh.

"Good I have three more for you to look over." She said as she looked in her bag and pulled out two small hand books and a huge tome. "The two small ones are rules and guidelines for agents and basic procedural guidelines for questioning suspects. The big book is what they use for the class on Criminal Psychology. I want you to enroll in both classes too. It will make you a better agent." she handed him the books.

He looked at them. "I've never read these, this should be fun." He said as he looked at the agents hand book.

"They're better written then mine, so it should be entertaining as well." She said sarcastically. She then bent down and gave Rick what she planned on being a quick kiss. Five minutes later she stood up gasping. "Wow! That was hot." She looked at her watch, "Man I'm late, but now I don't want to go… shit. I have to go, but I swear if those winy little ivy league shits gives me a hard time today I'm going to shoot them. See you later Rick." She said as she rushed out of his room.

Later that day Rick got a visitor he was not expecting. He was reading the Agents rule book when someone closed the door to his room. He looked up and saw detective Tom Demming standing by the door. "Of all the people I expected to come here, you were not on the list. What do you want Demming?" Rick asked as he put down his book, and openly stared at the green and purple bruise on the other mans chin. _Man, I really got him good_, he thought

"Trust me this is the last place I want to be." Tom said as he subconsciously rubbed his bruised chin.

"Yeah seeing the guy that kicked your ass must be hard. Why the hell are you here Shlemming?" Rick asked sarcastically.

"I Came to talk to you about Kate." Tom said.

"What about her?" Rick asked.

"She's not doing too well. She came over to my apartment the night you got shot. She was ranting about you. Swearing your name up and down." Tom said as he sat in one of the chairs.

"Wont you sit down," Rick said sarcastically. "I'm glad that I can provide her with an outlet to vent her rage. Why should I care?" Rick asked with indifference.

"Well she was ranting for a while, then she got a call from Ryan, he told her you were shot, and that you got the guys responsible for the pop and drops." Tom said.

"How did she react to her being wrong and me being right?" Rick asked victoriously.

"She dropped the phone and ran to the bathroom, she then spent the next ten minutes throwing up. She then cried herself to sleep." Tom said sadly.

"What? Why?" Rick was shocked.

"I think a big part of it was the fact that the last thing she said to you before you were shot were words of hatred. I think she thought that you were going to die and she was not going to be able to say goodbye. She has a huge fear of people she loves dying on her." Tom said.

"Yeah she does. Well I guess she does like me after all. What else happened? You wouldn't have come here if that was it." Rick said as he sat up in bed and faced the other man seeing for the first time an ally instead of a foe.

"She's depressed, she went home, and hasn't come to work. She won't take visitors, not even me. The only person she talked to on the phone was Ryan, and that was to ask about you. He said it sounded like she was drunk. I'm worried about her. Esposito said she was like this after you left the first time so I was hoping you could talk to her. Call her, or request a meeting with her. Maybe if she sees you she'll snap out of it and go back to living her life." Tom said.

"First of all I didn't leave the first time she through me out. Second what makes you think talking to me will do anything? For what it's worth it could make her worse. The last time I talked to her I said some pretty bad stuff." Rick said.

I don't know, but I've run out of ideas. I'm asking you to talk to her, if you want to be respected as a cop then you need to help your partner. She's hurting right now, and I know you can't leave that bed yet, but you need to help her." Tom said as he paced the room in front of Rick's bed.

"Okay, I'll do it, but I make no guarantees that this will work." Rick said as he picked up the phone by his bed and punched in Beckett's number. Four rings later he got her voicemail. "Beckett, it's castle you get your ass to the hospital, and come see your wounded partner. I'm not taking no for an answer, this is a formal request." He hung up and looked at Demming. "She didn't pick up her phone so I left a message. But I have another idea." Rick picked up the brown paper bag off the floor that his Chinese takeout came in. he ripped off the front and tossed the rest in the trash. He then looked for a pen. "Hey Demming, you got a pen?" He asked. Demming pulled out a gold pen and handed it over. "Nice pen." He said as he wrote on the brown paper.

"Gift from my father when I made detective." Tom said absently trying to read what he was writing.

"Demming I'm making a formal request of you. I want you to take this to Kate's place and knock on her door until she opens it. Then I want you to hand this to her." He said as he rolled up the brown paper and used the sticky top part of the post-it note on his book to hold it together. He handed it, and the pen, over to Tom and picked up his book. Tom took the scroll and walked out.

Tom got off the elevator on the fifth floor of Kate's new building, and walked up to apartment 506. He knocked and got no response. He knocked again and still nothing. He pounded on the door "Kate it's me Tom, I need to talk to you. I have a um… scroll? From Castle that you need to read. Kate open the door. I think this is a request for…" Kate flung open the door and Tom finally got a good look at her for the first time in days. She looked like hell. She was wearing red flannel pajama pants and a big black t-shirt. Her hair was pulled back in a messy ponytail. She had bags under her eyes and her skin looked dull. He looked past her into her apartment and saw it was a mess too. He counted six empty vodka bottles all over the place, and takeout boxes scattered in between.

"What do you want Tom?" She asked tiredly.

"I come baring a message." He said as he handed over the scroll. She pulled it open and found:

Detective Kathrin Beckett,

Your presents is here by formally requested at St. Mary's hospital, room 6034. To the bed of your wounded partner. Failure to adhere to this request will lose you all respect as an officer of the NYPD. You have six hours from the time of receiving this summons to make an appearance. After six hours a call will be made to detective Javier Esposito, to inform him of your loss of respect as a cop.

With regards,

Your wounded partner, AKA Castle.

She looked it over, twice. She was shocked, he was calling her out and if she didn't go he was calling in to question her status as an honorable cop. Who the hell told him about the request system? How the hell did he get this to Tom so he could deliver it to her? And where the hell did he get parchment! She took another look at it and saw a greasy stain on the back, she smelled it and got a whiff of egg roll. That made her smile. She than looked at Tom, he looked worried. She sighed, and looked at the clock on the wall. The note said she had six hours, that would be about seven o'clock.

She then looked at herself in the mirror by the door, and the sight of her appearance shocked her back to reality. "OH MY GOD!" She said as she looked at her appearance. She needed a bath, she then took a whiff of herself and rethought that last part, she defiantly needed a bath, or two. She then saw Tom and remembered that he was waiting for a response. "I except the request and agree to the meeting. Tell him it will take me all of the six hours to get ready, and that I will bring him cheese cake for dessert." She said to Tom. She then smiled at him "You've now seen me at my worst, you still want all of this?" She asked as she waved her hands at her self.

"Yes, but only if you never get this smelly again." He said with a laugh, he walked up to her and pulled her in close for a hug. "I've missed you Kate. I've missed you a lot."

"I've missed me too, god I need a bath. I'll see you later after I meet with Castle." she said. He went to kiss her but she backed away. "I haven't brushed my teeth in days, I don't even want my own tongue in my mouth right now. Lets call it off for the moment, but I'll stop by later." She said with a smile.

"Okay, I lo…missed you Kate, see you later." He said as he walked away.

Kate looked at her self in the mirror again and shook her head, "You need a bath. How the hell did you let your self go this far?" She asked her reflection. "Well lets get cleaned up." She said to her self as she headed towards the bathroom.

AN: Sorry it took so long to put this up, I've been swamped by the real world. It also took me a long time to put this together because my first outlines for after the shoot out are really weak and too buddy cop. So I've scrapped most of it in favor of a more upbeat plot line that takes Rick back to the classroom with other junior agents, and out into the field with Jordan and her team. Also more Rick and Jordan romance for those of you that have asked for it. New projections put this story at 40 chapters and very long. That would make this my first epic and I'm slightly scared. I might brake it up into a few stories just so it doesn't feel like a huge mountain. As always R&R, until next time, TBH


	10. Of fights and phone calls

Disclaimer: not mine.

Chapter 10

Of fights and phone calls

Rick sat in his bed finishing the last few bites of his BBQ pork sandwich, and Mac & cheese. He loved BBQ, but because he lived in an apartment it meant he couldn't have a grill. It was times like this that he thought about his house in the Hampton's. There he had a huge BBQ pit. As well as a fire pit and an out door clay pot fireplace. The thought of, "_Maybe I'm a pyromaniac"_ entered into his head. "_No",_ he thought "_I'm no arson, I just like watching things burn… okay maybe I am a Pyro."_ He still wanted to go out to his summer house. 'Maybe I'll take Jordan and the girls out there some time in the next month or two.' he thought.

The door to his room opened and Kate stuck her head in. "Oh I didn't know you were having dinner. I'll come back…" she started to say but he cut her off.

"Non-sense, I'm done." He said as he popped the last bite of his sandwich in to his mouth. And wiped his hands on his wet wipe. "Come on in, I promise not to yell at you and call you names." He said as he tossed his trash in the garbage can, and sat up in bed. He looked up and saw Kate standing by the door uncomfortably. "Come on in, take your coat off, stay awhile." He said with a laugh. She pulled a chair up to the side of his bed and took off her long black rain coat to reveal a short black cocktail dress. "You didn't have to get all dolled up for me you know? But I must say you clean up nicely." He said as he whistled at her and winked.

"This is not for you, it's for Tom. I promised to come over tonight. I'm thinking of taking him out for drinks at a club." She said as she sat down in her chair. She handed him a bag.

"What's this?" He asked while looking through the bag. He pulled out a big piece of raspberry cheesecake, and a plastic fork.

"Dessert, and a peace offering?" She said a little unsure.

"I except, but only if I can share it with you as part of my apology to you. I'm sorry Kate, really sorry. For the things I said, and the way I acted, and for calling you a badge bunny." He said as he pushed the cake back towards her and picked up a plastic fork from the pile of plastic ware he had on the table next to his bed.

"I accept, and may I complement you on your collection of takeout cutlery." She said with a laugh.

"Why thank you. I'm quite proud myself. I've had every meal delivered to me from the second day till now. I love this honor system." He said.

"Yes, I can see you have a good grasp on it. Who told you about it?" She asked as she took a bite of cake.

"Ryan, he told me all about it. He said I could ask my partner for anything and they had to bring it to me. I was going to request you bring me dinner in a sexy little red dress, but I must say cheese cake in a little black dress is just as nice." He said. She blushed at that comment.

"Castle! You were going to humiliate me like that?" She asked in shock.

"Yeah, but then Jordan came in and she told me I had to apologize for my behavior. I thought about what she said and I have to agree with her, I was out of line. I really am sorry Kate." He said with a sad face.

"And I'm sorry too. I was so mad at you that night, I wanted to kick your ass so bad, I went to Tom's apartment and I ranted and raved, but then I got the call from Ryan. He told me you were shot, and the first thing that came to me was I called you a bastard. I called you a bastard and you got shot. I thought you were going to die and the last thing I said to you was probably the worst thing I could have said… I thought you were going to die and I called you a …" Kate trailed off as she started to sob. She buried her face in her hands and sobbed out big gut wrenching sobs. Rick swung his legs off the bed and stood on unsteady feet he took the two steps to get to her side and took a knee. He hugged her to his shoulder and rocked her.

"It's okay Kate, I'm okay. I lived and you got to tell me you were sorry. Come on Kate, it's okay." He said softly to her.

"No it's not okay. I'm so sorry for everything. I'm sorry for calling you a bastard. I'm sorry for being a total bitch to you that day, hell I'm sorry for being a total bitch to you that whole week. I'm sorry for not congratulating you on becoming an agent. I'm sorry… I'm sorry it took me seeing you with another woman to realize that I had feelings for…" She trailed off.

Rick's head shot up and he pulled back a little bit. "What?" He asked.

"I um, nothing." she said as she tried to play it off.

"No you said it took you seeing me with another woman to realize that you had feelings for me. That's what you were going to say wasn't it?" He asked as he stood up and walked over to his bed.

"I did not!" she said defensively.

"No your brain caught up to your mouth and you stopped yourself, but I know that's what you were going to say. So it took you till now to see me as dating material?" he asked in a hurt voice.

"No, oh don't give me those puppy dog eyes. Fine I'll admit it, after seeing you with Jordan it hit home that I might be more that a little bit jealous. I then thought about it and I realized that I might have feelings for you…" He cut her off in mid sentence.

"So let me get this straight, you have feelings for me but it took you seeing me with Jordan to figure this out? What about all the other women you saw me with?"

"I don't know. I was a little jealous of them, but I knew they wouldn't last." She said.

"Okay, new question. What about all the serious flirting I did over the years?" He asked confused.

"What serious flirting?" she asked in a lost tone.

"You know the things I did for you" he said, but she still had that lost look. "Okay how about all the times I did stuff for you like bring you coffee, or hold the door for you? Or the dedication in the book? Or how about all the bantering we do. Are you going to sit there and tell me that you never thought I was serious. You have got to be kidding me." He said in real shock.

"You were never serious! You just wanted into my pants." She shot back and instantly regretted it. She was just now realizing the size of the river De-Nile. She really must have been concentrating hard on blocking out all of his charms. Hell she was surprised she got any work done at all.

"I will admit that in the beginning I just wanted sex, but after we worked that case with the frozen woman I think I fell in love with you. When you let me in on your mom's story I just wanted to hold you. After that I did all that I could to bring your emotional walls down. To get you to see me for the guy that I am. Then Demming showed up. I let him passed because I thought you weren't ready for a relationship. I thought you would blow him off like you did me, but… then you got interested in him and then I saw you kiss him, and it felt like I got punched in the chest."

"If you were so in love with me, then why the hell did you shack up with Shaw then?" she asked in a angry voice

"What was I supposed to do Kate? Spend the rest of my life waiting for you? Sit there and watch you with your boy toy? Sit there day in and day out while you two played high school sweethearts? Wait for you to wise up? To realize that you date cops because you think there all as noble as you are, but in the end they all leave you? You know what? I had dinner with Jordan that night and she asked me why we weren't together. I told her you were with some other cop, and the look of pity she gave me shocked me. Here was a woman that just got divorced and she feels sorry for me? The next day when I saw you go to Demming's defense it hit me. I wasted my time with you. We worked almost two years together and you couldn't once say I would make a good cop. Never. I sat with Jordan twice and she handed me a badge, and told me I had an investigators mind." He said offhandedly, at this point he didn't even know where this fight was going. He just needed her to see his side of the story. Something she obviously didn't see before now.

"How the hell was I supposed to know that you wanted to be a cop?" She asked.

"How about the fact that I spent almost two years working cases with you? Or building theory with you? Or interrogating suspects with you?" He asked like he was talking to a small child.

"That was research for your books." She said.

"Kate, I have a masters degree in criminology. I've worked with the best cops and agents in the field in the name of research for ten years before I even met you. Why the hell would I need to do two years of research to write some new book? The truth is I spent the last two years following a woman that never looked at me as more than just a lackey." he said with real hurt in his voice. Maybe trying to get her to see his side of the story was a bad idea, it meant that he had to explain it to her, and that meant he had to think about it too. Something he was trying not to do at this stage in his life. He was thinking about capping off this part in his history and call it Post Kate, or PK for short.

"I never thought you were a lackey," She said, but stopped talking when he gave her a 'are you crazy' look "Okay I will admit that in the beginning you were a pain in the ass, but you showed your value to me after the first few cases." She said sincerely.

"Really? Because the best complement you ever gave me was, 'Your annoying but you make the job fun" He said in a bad impersonation of her voice.

"I've said you've done a good job before!" she said.

"Yes you did, like five times and I always felt like it was more condescending then sincere. It made me feel like I was in preschool again. "Good Job little Ricky, you colored in the lines." He said sarcastically. "I always felt like you were going to hand out gold stars next."

"I was always sincere when I said that. What do you want from me Castle? You want me to tell you that you're a good detective? Fine you're a good detective. You happy now?" She asked as she paced the room.

"See, was that so hard?" He asked with a bitter laugh.

"Um, no it wasn't. In fact I think it just now struck me that your not going to be working with us anymore." She said as she retook her seat.

"You knew it would happen eventually." He told her as he took a bite of his cake. He was way done with fighting with her.

"Yeah, I did but, well, I've gotten used to you. You know?" she said sadly.

"Yeah I guess, but on the bright side you can get a new partner now. Someone that's a real cop, and you can train them to be like me, and they can spend their time getting you coffee, and holding the door for you. You'll have a new lackey in no time at all." He said flippantly.

"That was both mean and not funny." She said with a sad look on her face.

"I thought it was hilarious. See I just don't care anymore. I've done my job, I got you out of the house. I've said I was sorry, you said you were sorry. We talked a little bit. I've fulfilled all of my promises to Jordan, and your boy toy. I'm done with the conversation." Rick said with a shrug.

"Oh, so you're only apologizing because Jordan told you to. Are you Jordan's lap dog now?" She asked angrily.

"Yep, and not only am I her lap dog, but she also knows I'm alive. It's like I'm a real boy to her and everything. Which brings us back to my first point, your going to need a new lap dog Kate. I've moved on." He said like it was obvious.

"So you do everything Jordan says? If she told you to jump off a bridge would you?" Kate asked sarcastically.

"Yep. You know what I want to know? Why are you so jealous of Jordan for? I've quite literally paraded models and actresses in front of your face just to see if you would notice. And I never got the same level of jealousy towards them, that you showed when Jordan worked with us. So I ask again why her?" He asked with curiosity, he had been trying to make her jealous for awhile now, and he wanted to know what made her tick.

"I am not jealous of her. It has nothing to do with Jordan" Kate said as she tried to back pedal.

"Yes you are. You are more effected by the fact that I'm with her then any other woman in the world. All I want to know is why." he asked as he sat up and showed interest in the conversation for the first time.

"I don't know? Why are you jealous of Tom? Lets see what you have to say about that Mr. smart ass. Why do you hate him?" she said as she paced angrily.

"Easy, he gets to take you home and I don't. I also think he's the same guy you always date and I know it's going to end badly for you. Not now but in four to six months from now. When you're living together, you'll come home early and find some other chick cop in your bed with officer pretty boy investigating her crime scene. Of course now I don't really care, but two weeks ago I did." He said flippantly, but Kate spun around and looked at him with fire in her eyes. He saw that look before, it was the look she had when they ran out of suspects. He wanted to see how far he could push her. "Now, after I leave this hospital I'm going to work with Jordan. I'm going to take her out on a few dates then I'm going to take her home, and please her in every way I can. She's got nice, strong, legs. I wonder what they'll feel like wrapped around my waist. And that rack…" He was cut off by Kate.

"Enough! Just stop it will you." She said as she got in his face.

"Then tell me. Why her? I told you why I don't like him now you tell me why you can't stand the fact that I'm going out with her" He really wanted to know now. He never got this kind of reaction out of her before.

"Fine! I'm jealous of the fact that she can replace me." She said as she looked away.

"What?" He was lost. "Replace you? How? we were never together to begin with. How is she going to replace you in a non-existent relationship?"

"She's the only woman I've seen you with that could do… whatever it is that we do. Yes I've seen you with other women but that was all physical attraction and lust. With Jordan you, you danced with her, mentally. That was our thing, and you did it with her. She's my equal. I don't like her because I know that if your with her…" she trailed off as she sat back down in her chair with a sad look on her face.

"If I'm with her, there can never be an us." He finished for her.

"yeah." She said softly.

"So that means if I wasn't with her you would be with me?" He asked. He wanted to see where she was coming from.

"Well I'm with Tom now… Plus I don't know if we would make a good couple, or not. Also I don't think I can trust you not to hurt me… I would say let's try going on some small dates first" she said.

"So, if I was single you would blow me off, and if I'm with Jordan you're going to be jealous of us?" He asked.

"I didn't say that." She said defensively.

"you didn't have to, it was easy to read between the lines. I guess there's just one thing to do then… Goodbye Kate. I hope you can find happiness." he said as he laid back in his bed and looked away from her.

She was shocked, he never said goodbye. It was always _until tomorrow_, or some other whimsical writer's saying. He never said goodbye. She looked at him and realized that he was saying goodbye, because he meant Goodbye forever. She didn't know what to feel, she felt numb inside and out. She wanted to cry and be pissed off at the same time. She wanted to go back to the way things were, but she also knew she couldn't handle seeing him with the one woman that could take her place in his life. She looked at the door to his room and then looked back at him. She took her coat and bag off the back of the chair and walked to the door hoping that he would call her back, tell her that he was just kidding. With every step she took she knew she was walking a little bit further away from her partner, but the call never came. She stopped at the door. "Good bye Rick, I'll see you around." she said softly without turning back to look at him. She walked out of his room and got all the way to the elevator before the tears in her eyes fell down her cheeks. She pulled out her phone and called Lanie.

"Dr. Parish." Lanie answered as she packed up for the night.

"Lanie it's Kate, I need to talk to you, can you meet me somewhere?" Kate asked as she stepped off the elevator and headed out of the hospital.

"Yeah I can meet you at Remy's in about fifteen minutes. Katie girl, are you crying?" Lanie asked softly.

"Maybe." Kate hedged as she started her car and pulled out of the parking lot.

"I'll see you soon and you can tell me all about it then, okay?" Lanie said reassuringly.

"Okay." Kate said as she hung up.

In his room, Rick laid back in his bed and picked up the phone on the table next to him. He needed to talk to someone and he didn't know who to call. He sat there holding the phone until the dial tone sounded breaking him out of his thoughts. He started dialing and before he knew he was doing it he called Jordan.

"Hello?" She answered.

"Jordan, it's me Rick. Can you talk for awhile?" he asked.

"Sure, I'm at home. Why what's going on?" She asked.

"I just said goodbye to Kate, for good, and I think I need a shoulder to cry on." he said sadly.

"OH, I'm so sorry for you Rick. It's never easy to lose a partner and a friend. What can I do to help?" she asked softly.

"You can start by telling me what you're wearing right now." he said trying to make an attempt at humor.

"A black leather corset, a half cup bra, fishnet stockings with suspenders, and four inch black stiletto pumps. One of my female junior agents needed to be spanked for being a bad girl." She said in a deep sexy voice playing along.

"Oh god, tell me at least half of that was real." He said in a cracking voice.

"Nope! I'm watching TV in old FBI sweats and pink bunny slippers." she said with a laugh.

"Are they sexy pink bunny slippers at least?" he asked with a smirk.

"Oh yeah they're sexy alright, I'd even go as far as saying there down right dirty." She said in a sexy voice as she looked at her old ratty slippers. She then got serious, "All joking aside, do you want me to come their tonight?" She asked softly.

"No, I'm fine. It's no big deal." He said trying to play off the fact that he said goodbye to Kate for good. He was a man, they didn't cry about this stuff. They squared their jaw, and kept on moving forwards.

"Yes it is a big deal. You don't have to play the tuff guy for me Rick. I will be their in a half an hour, and we'll talk about it, okay?" She asked.

"Sure I guess, but can you at least wear the corset and shoes?" He asked in a begging tone.

"We'll see. I be there as soon as I can." She said as she hung up the phone.

AN: I'm sorry it took so long for me to update. I just got promoted in work and that means that I acutely had to do my job for once. It's been a long eight weeks. I don't think I had time for TV let alone writing. That being said it's good to be back, and I think I'm back for good. I was scared to sit down and start writing again, but this ended up being an easy chapter to write. It flowed out in one sitting, and I didn't make too many changes to it. I'm starting on the next chapter now. It will be focused on the talks they're going have, and the next day. I've have two ways that this story can continue on from here. 1. Kate can be manipulative and try to steel Rick back. Or 2. Lanie can call her a dumb ass and tell her to move on. If you have a preference let me know in the review of PM me. So until next time, TBH.


	11. Of Jazz Clubs & Spiked Heels

Disclaimer: Not Mine!

Chapter 11

Of Jazz Clubs & Spiked Heels

A yellow cab pulled up in front of a jazz club, and Lanie stepped out. She walked up to the big bouncer and flashed him a smile. She got a blank look and a head shake in return. "What's wrong Mac? I thought I could always put a smile on your face." she said looking confused.

"Kate's here and she's hitting the hard stuff, I don't know what's going on but she's had four vodka martinis in the ten minutes she's been here." he replied softly as he stared in the direction of the bar. Lanie turned around in time to see Kate slam her martini glass down and wave her hand for more.

"Oh Jesus, what the hell happened now?" she mumbled she then turned back to Mac, "Thanks' for the heads up Mac, I'll go straiten her out." she said as she headed for the bar. She sat down next to Kate and took the glass from her hand.

"Hey I was drinking that!" Kate yelled. Lanie looked at her friend and shook her head.

"You are coming with me to that booth in the back corner and you are going to tell me what the hell is going on right now." Lanie said in a threatening tone as she stood up.

"What if I don't want to? What are you going to do about it?" Kate asked the shorter woman in the same tone.

"I'll walk out of here. Then you can have your pity party all by your self!" Lanie said as she turned towards the door.

"No! don't, I lost someone already today I can't lose you too." Kate said as the situation hit her and she sobered up very quickly. Lanie nodded once and pulled her friend to the booth.

Lanie took a good look at her friend and she didn't like what she saw. Kate looked thin, and she had dark circles under her eyes. Lanie thought she had corpses in her morgue that looked more alive then Kate did at the moment. "Katie girl, what's wrong? I don't hear or see you in a week, then I get a call from you in tears. What the hell is going on with you. You also look dead, have you eaten in the last five days?" Lanie asked.

"Yeah" Kate said as she looked away Lanie made a disappointed noise, and waved over a waitress.

"We would like two patty melt platters with cheese fries." Lanie said to the waitress. She then looked at Kate again "now that the food is taken care of I want you to start talking."

"I don't know where to begin." Kate said softly.

"The beginning is usually a good place the start from." Lanie said with a half smile.

"Well I guess it all started with me going over to Castle's place to pick him up to head over to a crime scene…(One hour, two patty melt platters, and a double chocolate brownie later) and then he asked me if he was single and I was single would I see him as dating materiel." Finished Kate and she took a long pull off of her beer.

"So what did you say?" Lanie asked.

"Well…" Kate mumbled.

"You told him yes right?" Lanie demanded. Kate took anther drink so she wouldn't have to answer. "You told him no didn't you? You really didn't see him as dating material? I'm shocked. You have no idea what a big mistake you made." Lanie said.

"ME? He's the one who shacked up with little miss FBI bitch!" Kate yelled back.

"After you paraded Mr. Pretty boy cop in front of his face for two months!" Lanie tossed back.

"Well why the hell is that even an issue? He's been with how many women? How many models and actresses has he brought to the precinct?" Kate argued.

"Girl you know that half of them he brought over just to get a reaction out of you. I mean the guy spent the last two years trying to get you to notice him." Lanie said as she killed the last of her light beer and motioned for the waitress to bring her another one. She figured that if she was going to have to explain to her best friend just how messed up she was then she was going to need to be at least tipsy for the conversation.

"That's another thing! He said that he's constantly tried to get my attention but I just don't see it." Kate said.

"Well lets see?" Lanie said in a sarcastic tone. "He spent the last two years of his life following you around like a lost puppy. He brought you coffee every day even though he bought a brand new espresso machine for the bullpen because he knows you like the coffee from Tony's sandwich shop. He holds the door for you. He acts like you're the smartest person in the world, even though he figured out something before you. He saved your life, and he ran to your apartment and into your burning building to rescue you…"

"Enough! I get it, you can stop. I get it he was trying to get my attention. I should have thrown myself at him the first chance I got. Because it's every girls dream to be a Castel groupie." Kate said.

"No, it's every girls dream to be swept off her feet by a hansom prince. You had the man of both of our dreams in the palm of your hand and you tossed him aside for what? Some pretty boy cop that's just going to break your heart?" Lanie asked disappointedly.

"Why does everyone think Tom's going to break my heart? Your the second person to say that today. Why is it so hard to believe he's a good man?" Kate asked defensively.

"Oh come on! He is exactly the same guy you always go out with. He's a cop, he's pretty, he's all gentlemanly, then one day your going to find out that he's cheating on you. It the same story. It's a pattern you repeat every few years. It's getting kind of sad." Lanie said

"Tom is not like that at all! You'll see he's different I'm sure." Kate said offended.

"What ever helps you sleep at night." Lanie said

"So if I said yes, does that mean he would have left the FBI tramp?" Kate asked.

"No, that boat left the dock a long time ago." Lanie said.

"I don't get it. Then why did he ask it in the first place? Why ask me if he was in a relationship?" Kate asked confused.

"He asked to see if you noticed him." Lanie explained.

"No, I'm still lost. Noticed him?" Kate asked.

"Yeah. Okay lets see if I could put it another way… say your working really hard and you get passed up for a promotion by someone that is clearly under qualified. So the next day you barge into your bosses office and you asked why you were overlooked for the job. You know there's no chance of you getting the job, but you want to know why you were overlooked. Castle did the same thing. He asked you if you would consider him as dating material to see if he wasted two years following you around. And you said no. that's like finding out the boss only picked the other woman because she had bigger boobs. How would you feel then?" Lanie asked.

"Hay! Why's she have to have bigger boobs for?" Kate asked with indignation.

"Because it's something you would understand, you always secretly wanted bigger chest right?" Lanie asked with a smirk.

"Maybe." Kate hedged.

"Okay, well Castle always wanted to be a cop. You picked Demming over Castle and I can guaranty you that a part of Rick was more hurt that you picked a cop over him. It's his major insecurity." Lanie said with a shrug.

"Oh my god. He totally got in my face about not having a badge. I get it now, he was not just jealous of Tom, he was jealous of his job too. That's why he said all that crap about his new badge. I have to talk to him. I have to fix this!" Kate said as she stood up.

"Katie girl, sit down! The time for talking is over. You missed your chance like two hours ago. Now you need to let the situation cool off for a while. Then in a few weeks try to talk to him." Lanie said.

"So in a few weeks I can talk to him and we can go back to the way things were?" Kate asked.

"No, things will never be the same as they were. You have to know now that the closeness you guys shared is over. You can't un-hear some of the stuff you guys said to each other, you just have to live with it now. Besides how can things go back to the way they were if he's working for the FBI now?" Lanie asked rhetorically.

"Yeah, I guess." Kate said sadly as she killed the rest of her beer.

Back in Rick's hospital room Rick was sitting in bed reading one of the books Jordan dropped off. Well that's what it looked like, but in truth he had reread the same paragraph a dozen times. He just couldn't stop thinking about the fact that Kate was gone. For the past two years she was a constant presence in his life, and if he was being totally truthful with his self in his heart too. From the moment she told him he was coming down to the station for questioning, till the moment he heard the hospital room door close. She was always there. Now he kind of felt empty. The door to his room opened and Jordan walked in. Rick took one look at her and laughed. She was wearing faded jeans and a blue and white striped dress shirt half unbuttoned, but it was the black corset peaking out of her shirt and the black four inch spiked heel pumps that set him off.

"What? you asked me to wear the corset and the shoes." She said with a smile.

"That I did. Even covered up you still look incredibly sexy." Rick said as she walked over to the bed and sat on the edge.

"Well if you play your cards right you might get to see the rest of the outfit. I even have the whip." she said in a sexy heavy voice. Rick started to laugh, but stopped when he saw she was serious.

"Wow, I promise to be a good boy then." He said as he leaned over and kissed Jordan drawing her up the bed to lay next to him.

"All joking aside, how are you doing Rick?" She asked as she rested her head on his shoulder.

"I Don't know? I mean for the last two years the only thing I could think about was Kate. Seeing Kate, being with Kate, solving cases with Kate. Getting Kate to notice me. Breaking down Kate's emotional walls. It got so bad that on a date with a super model last year I spent most of the night talking about Kate." Rick said.

"I understand Rick. When my husband left me for his secretary. I was so lost. What do I do now? He was a constant in my life for the past sixteen years. Then I got a case, and I put everything into that. I ran myself ragged. Until my daughter held me one night and told me that it was okay to cry about her dad leaving. She held me that night for hours and I let it all out. We slept on the couch that night and in the morning I got up feeling like a new woman. I made Kelly pancakes that morning and life went on. Now my ex is just a passing memory. That's what you need to do." She said as she hugged him closer.

"What? Cry? Or work a case?" He asked.

"Cry. It's okay to cry Rick." Jordan said.

"I don't think I need to cry, but since your hear now I wouldn't mind a cuddle." he said as he pulled her in tighter and buried his face in her hair.

"What ever you need I'm hear for you." She said softly.

"Anything?" he asked with a smirk.

"Well anything up to a point, if you want that I think you need to take me on a few more dates first. I mean just because I like you and your good with my daughter, and our kids would hurt us if we didn't end up together. Doesn't mean I'm easy Mr. Castle. " She said with a smile.

"Whatever you say sexy, that reminds me, I need to do something nice for the girls. They orchestrated this whole thing and I couldn't be happier." he said with a laugh

"That's all we need. They tricked us into dating and that was just the two of them, I can't imagine what they could cook up with you on their side." she said with a laugh

"Well I like the way their last plan worked out, I don't mind what they come up with now." he said as he kissed Jordan. "I was thinking that maybe we could go out to our summer house in the Hampton's for a week. Let the girls lie out on the beach. And I can BBQ things, and you can sit on the deck and just relax. How does that sound?" Rick asked.

"It sounds great, I have some vacation time stacked up and I need to use it or I lose it. But if I get called in I will have to leave. I'm always on call, it comes with the job title." Jordan said as she laid back next to Rick.

"That's fine. I think we can agree that your work is very important. I don't think the girls would mind that much. Plus I get to cook meat over a open fire like all men should. You know let out the inner caveman. I know this great butcher out there that sells the best steaks, ummmm." Rick trailed off.

"You're lost in the thought of grilling meat aren't you?" She said with a smirk.

"Oh yeah. I can't wait. I have a huge brick BBQ pit. Plus at night you can help us finish my second baby. " Rick said.

"Aren't you moving a little fast there." she said with a sideways glance.

"What?…. Oh! No, I meant the car. About two years ago me and Alexis saw an ad in the paper for kit cars, and she bought me one. It came like half built. All I had to do was put all the parts together, but we never spend enough time out their to finish it. Maybe this time we can get it running." He said with a laugh

"Oh, that sounds so cool. You know I took shop class in high school. How are we getting out there are we taking my car?" she asked.

"We can. In the summer I usually just have a car ndfjlskflskf get us out there , and drive us back because I have a 1965 Aston Martin DB5 out their. But we can take Francine if you like." he asked.

I think we should take my car out there, and if I get called in to work I can leave and you guys can stay the rest of the week. Then you can drive the girls home in your car. Can your James Bond fantasy car make it back to the city?" she asked.

"Yeah the Aston can make the trip." He said not dignifying the James bond comment with an answer.

"Then it's all set, I'll talk to Avery and tell him he has to do my job for a week, and I'll tell the girls to get ready. We'll go the day after you get out of here, and stay a week out there, from Sunday to Sunday." Jordan said. She then rolled into Rick and laid her head back on his chest and sighed. "Do you think the nurses will let me sleep here?" she said as she kicked off her shoes.

"I sure as hell don't have a problem with it." Rick said as he kissed the top of her head.

"You know that this is the one thing I still miss the most about not being married?" she said with a sigh.

"What?" he asked.

"This, sleeping next to someone. I mean I can't stand my ex, and I'm glad we got divorced when we did, but I haven't had a really good night's sleep in a long time." She said as she dozed off.

"Well you get some sleep and I'll fend off the nurse staff." Rick said softly. He was asleep minutes later, and they were left alone for the rest of the night.

The sun woke Jordan up the next morning. She blinked and groaned as she snuggled into Rick, and he tightened his arm around her. Jordan's phone picked that moment to ring. "Err just five more minutes pleas." She grumbled as she fumbled for her iPhone. "Yeah" she answered.

"Um, mom, are you okay? you left really late last night and you never came home." Kelly said with concern.

The sound of her daughter snapped Jordan out of her sleepy haze. "Yeah sweetie I'm fine. I came to see Rick last night and must have fallen asleep. Are you okay?" Jordan asked as she sat up in bed.

"Yeah, I'm fine, I just thought you got called into the office, and I was calling to let you know that Alexis is taking me out to breakfast, and to a fencing class. Then we were thinking of taking you out for lunch." Kelly said.

"That sounds good to me. Call me when the class ends and I'll pick you girls up." Jordan said as she stood up and stretched.

"Okay, love you mom." Kelly said before she hung up.

Jordan ended the call and looked at the time on her phone. It was a little after nine, and she had a class at noon. She had just enough time to get home, shower, and get ready. She sat on the bed and looked at Rick. He was still half asleep and she thought he looked so cute. "Rick I have to go, I have class at noon." she said as she stroked his cheek.

"No, you have to come back to bed, it's cold with out you." He whined playfully.

"I can't. if I don't go now I wont have time to get ready." she said with a smile. The truth was that the bed looked like a better option then going to work, but she had to go. She needed to teach class, she had to get Avery to cover her classes next week. Which meant she needed to copy her lesson plans and talk to him about the topics he had to cover. She also needed to talk to her boss and okay the time off she wanted to take. They always said she needed to take more time off. Now lets see how the department functioned without her for a week.

"okaaaaay! but I want kisses to make up for you leaving." He said with a pout.

"Well that seams fare I guess." Jordan said as she leaned down and kissed him softly. Ten minutes and a set of puffy lips later Jordan stood up on unsteady legs and picked up her coat. "I'll bring the girls here later today after lunch. Do you want me to pick you up something?" She asked as she put her shoes on.

"Yeah, could you stop by a hotdog cart and get me a couple of dogs with hot mustard?" he asked as he sat up in bed.

"I can do that. I'll see you later Rick." She said as she gave him a quick kiss and walked out.

Meanwhile Kelly and Alexis were walking down the subway stairs and talking about the phone call. "I think they slept together." Kelly said.

"You mean like slept together, or 'slept together'" Alexis asked with a smirk and air quotes.

"I think just slept." Kelly said with a blush.

"Well that's a step in the right direction. I think we can call our plan a success, don't you?" Alexis asked as she stuck out her hand.

Kelly giggled and shook her best friend's hand. "I agree. Now all we have to do is make sure that they keep progressing the way they are and we'll be sisters in no time. I can't wait, I always wanted a sister." Kelly said wistfully.

Alexis hugged the smaller girl "Me too. Now lest catch the train so we can get to lunch with your mom. I think we need to talk to her about last night and get all the facts we can so we can plan our next move… wow that sounded so devious, Gram is going to be so proud when we call her later." Alexis said with a smirk , as she slung her arm around the shorter girls shoulders and stepped on to the train.

AN: I'm sorry it took so long to write this. As you know from my last AN. I got a promotion. about a week after I posted the last chapter the higher ups cut half of the work force of three other divisions and stuck us all together in the same pool doubling my work load. A week after that my boss left on a month long vacation leaving me in charge of the whole work force. Last week I finally had a few minutes to myself. I sat down and knocked this out in a few hours. Maybe my boss will come back soon so I can get a break. The next chapter should be up soon after this one because it's just a short epilogue to this story. After that I'm going to start working on it's sequel.


	12. Of Questions & Packing

Chapter 12

Of Questions & Packing

Just after her class ended Jordan got the call she was waiting on. The girls were done with the fencing lesson, and ready for lunch. They said they would meet her at a small diner across from the fencing place. Jordan grabbed her bag and jacket off her desk and headed for the elevator.

Ten blocks away the girls sat down at a table and ordered two Cokes. Alexis asked Kelly what she wanted to do after visiting her dad.

"I don't know? Do you have something in mind?" Kelly asked.

"Maybe we can go over to Page's house. She goes to York too. We can swing by this new store that opened up by her house, they sell vintage stuff." Alexis said as the waitress brought their drinks.

"Sounds good to me. I'm used to sitting at home most of the time so anywhere we go is cool with me." Kelly said.

Jordan walked in a minute later and they all ordered. Alexis gave Kelly a look and a head tilt. Kelly nodded, and right before she could ask her mom about last night Jordan broke up laughing. "I must have really been falling in love with Rick to not notice just how bad you guys are at subtlety. You two are so obvious it's sad. Come on, out with it. What do you girls want to know?" Jordan asked.

"Well I for one am shocked that you would call in to question our grasp on the gentle art of subtlety. I have never been more insulted in my life!" Alexis said with fake indignation.

"Yes, how dare you! I will have you know that we are so subtle, the CIA called and they want us to be super secret spies!" Said Kelly as she stuck her nose in the air and hrumped.

"Yeah, we are world class practitioners of subtlety." Alexis added, although it was hard to make out what she said through her giggling fit.

When Jordan got her self under control she look both girls in the eye "All joking aside I know you girls have questions and I want you to know you can ask me anything." Jordan said with sincerity.

"We did have some questions to ask, but you might have let slip one of our answers already. You said you love my dad. Is that true?" Alexis asked.

"Yes. It's true. I don't know when it happened, but I think I love him. I mean what's not to love? He's good looking, good with kids, he's not intimidated by my job, he understands what it's like to lose yourself in a case and he's fun to be with! I just don't see a down side to him. " Jordan said truthfully. After listing the upside to being with Rick she just confirmed to her self that she was falling in love.

"Does he return the feeling?" Kelly asked her mom. The last thing she needed was her mom falling in love and Rick not returning her feelings.

"I don't think he's there yet, but he's not far behind. Alexis does your dad invite a lot of women to his house in the Hampton's?" Jordan asked.

"No. he never brings women out their. In fact he never brings anyone but gram and me out their. Why did he ask you to come out to the cottage?" Alexis asked with a big smile.

"Yeah, he said it would be good to get out of the city, said you girls could sit by the lake and get some sun and I can help him fix a car. To tell you the truth I was half asleep when he was telling me about it." Jordan said as she took a bite of her forgotten chicken sandwich.

"The kit car, yeah it's close to being done. Just a few more bolts and a steering wheel and it's all ready to drive. We found the add at the back of a magazine. It's a Shelby cobra roadster. It's black with red racing stripes. I picked out the colors but dad picked out the huge engine for it. He said it's so big the factory had to make the hood bigger." Alexis said.

"Well I can't wait to see it. We're all heading out their on Sunday to stay a week there. I have Avery taking over my class for the week. If I get called away then you can all stay the rest of the week and Rick said he could bring you guys back in his Aston Martin." Jordan said with a smile because you could see the excitement in the girl's eyes as she talked.

"Oh we're going to have so much fun. I can't wait! It's been so long since we've gone out their. We have a cleaning service look after the place, but we always have fun when we go out their." Alexis said.

"Tomorrow Rick gets out of the hospital, we'll drop you two off home. Then we'll pack and meet you and Rick outside your place at ten Sunday morning." Jordan Said.

On Saturday, just a little after noon. Jordan brought the girls to the hospital for Rick's discharge. Alexis was carrying a new Black suit and white shirt, and Jordan had a gun case with Rick's new service Sig Sauer and badge. They made their way past the gaggle of reporters and into the building. "I wonder how the reporters knew he was getting out today?" Kelly asked as the three women stepped onto the elevator.

"Rick had his publicist set it up. All the news stations wanted interviews with him so Rick had them set up the press conference for today, out in front of the hospital. That's why we brought him a nice suit. We need to make him look good for the cameras. He's also going to field questions about joining the FBI so I brought his gun and badge." Jordan said as they walked towards his room.

"Do you think he's going to be ready to go?" Kelly asked.

"Knowing my dad, he'll probably be dressed, and ready to leave in minutes." Alexis said. When they walked into his room they found him up walking around in the pajama pants they brought him packing all of his stuff away. He turned around and smiled at them.

"My three favorite ladies. Tell me you guys are here to spring me from this place?" He asked as he walked over to them. He hugged Alexis and Kelly, and then pulled Jordan in for a kiss. "I've missed you." he said softly to Jordan.

"I was just here two nights ago." Jordan said with a laugh.

"I know, that was like forever though." Rick play whined.

"Well your in luck then, we came to get you out. We brought you a suit and shirt, go get dressed. Then we'll make you look presentable." Jordan said.

"You remember you have to make a statement to the press, right?" Alexis asked as she handed him the clothes she was carrying.

"Yeah, I have it all prepared." He said as he walked into the little bathroom and shut the door.

"Good, I also brought your gun and badge. Are you sure you want the press to know your working with us now?" Jordan asked.

"Yeah, they'll find out one way or another. I might as well add it to what I'm going to say today." He said as he opened the door while he was buttoning the cuff of his shirt. "I need to hit the gym again. I'm getting a little round in the middle section and this shirt is getting a little tight." He said as he walked over to Jordan.

She knew what he wanted, she put the gun case she was holding on the bed and opened it up to show him the shiny new black Sig Sauer 229 sitting in the gray foam of the case. He reached out and ran his finger over the slide. He then saw his leather ID holder sitting next to it. "Your going to need this first." Jordan said as she clipped a black leather holster onto his belt by his right hip. He looked down at it and smiled.

"Thanks." He said sincerely, and Jordan knew he was talking about more then her putting on his holster. The look of excitement in his eyes as he picked up his gun and slid it into the holster on his hip made Jordan a little misty eyed. You could feel the joy rolling off of him. He took his leather ID holder out next and slipped it into the inside pocket of his suit coat. "well how do I look Ladies?" he asked sincerely.

"You look great dad." Alexis said as she tossed him his gold shield. He clipped it on his belt with a nod and a smile.

"Looking very agent like Rick." Kelly said as she handed him a red tie.

"You look good Rick. Let's finish up here, the press is waiting outside. Me and the girls will go sign your paperwork. Put on your shoes and grab your stuff" Jordan said as Rick tied his red tie.

A few minutes later Rick and the ladies walked out of the front of the hospital, and over to the podium set up off to the side. As soon as Rick stood at the podium the twenty reporters started to shout questions. Rick held up his hands for silence, and when they calmed down a bit he addressed them "I will give a short statement regarding the shooting then I will take questions. At approximately 8: 45 pm on the night of July 12 I was followed home by a group of killers we in the law enforcement field called the pop and drop crew. This was the same group that was responsible for three other killings. I lead them into an alley and took them down, in the process I was shot in the abdomen. Earlier that same day I officially became a junior agent with the FBI." Rick said as he pulled out his FBI badge and showed it to the cameras. After a few pictures were taken he continued his story. "The three arrests will be shared by both the FBI and the detectives of the 12th precinct. Now I will take some questions." He said as he took a sip from his water bottle.

"Mr. castle, now that you're an FBI agent are you going to write any more books?" asked a woman in the front of the pack.

"No, I'm done with writing. The next two Nikki Heat books are close to being finished but after that I'm out of the book writing business." Rick said as he nodded to the next reporter.

"Mr. Castle, when did you decide to work for the FBI?" said a random reporter.

"I always wanted to be a cop, but I started to write books to pay the bills. I never knew when I started to write that I would be such a success. But now I want to do something that I always wanted to do. The first time I held my badge in my hands ranks up there as one of the greatest moments of my life." Rick said.

The questions kept coming for the next ten minutes, until Jordan signaled that it was time to go. "That's all for now, I just got out of the hospital and I need to rest for a few days before I have to go to work." Rick said with his lady killer smile.

Rick walked off stage in into Jordan's waiting car. "Well that's one aspect of not being a writer that I like, I may never have to stand in front of those blood thirsty sharks again." Rick said.

"That might not be true. If you turn out to be as good of an agent as I think you will, then you might have to do more of those press conferences when you make special agent. I have to do about four of them a year." Jordan said with a smirk.

"Well a guy can dream, plus I could always let you do them for me." Rick said.

"I don't think so. If you catch the bad guys you make the statement to the press" Jordan said with a laugh.

"Okay I guess. So have we figured out what we're doing yet?" Rick asked.

"Yes, Jordan is dropping us off at home so we can pack and then they're meeting us at our place tomorrow at ten to head out to the cottage." Alexis said.

"Cool with me. I can't wait to get out of the city. My big ass grill is waiting to be used. I wonder if I can call in ahead of time to Louie the butcher and preorder some big stakes. And I can't wait to put the finishing touches on the car. It took so long to build but finally I get to drive it. Do you think I could use it as my agent's car Jordan?" Rick asked.

"No I think the Bureau would frown on you using a sports car for work. But if you want to use something besides the big black SUV's then you can. It just has to follow a set of guidelines." Jordan said as they pulled up out side of Rick's building and got out.

"Cool, I want a super cool agent car." Rick said excitedly.

"I thought you would. So we'll meet you two out front tomorrow at ten right?" Jordan asked.

"Yeah, we'll be ready to go. We'll se you tomorrow bye Jordan, Kelly." Rick said as he hugged Kelly and kissed Jordan.

The two Castle's went inside and were greeted by the doorman in the lobby.

"It's good to see you again Mr. Castle." Mike the big guy behind the desk said as he waved them in.

"Good to be back Mike." Rick said as he and Alexis got on the elevator.

Rick walked in to find Alexis' red suitcase already packed and sitting by the door. Rick just smiled and shook his head. He didn't think his daughter had one spontaneous bone in her body, which was good seeing as both her parents couldn't stick to a plan to save there lives. "I see your all ready to go, does that mean you have time to help me pack for the week?" Rick asked with a smirk.

"It's funny how you think you can pack without my help Dad. I already started your bag." She said as they walked into his room to find his black rolling suitcase sitting open on his bed half full.

"I see you packed socks and boxers. You can't go wrong there. What else should I take?" He asked as he took a seat next to the suitcase on the bed.

"Well I'd go with a few pairs of jeans, and some t-shirts to start with. I'd take one suit and a few nice shirts next…" Rick cut her off mid stream.

"A suit? Am I going somewhere nice?" He asked.

"Well dad I think you should take Jordan out on a date before you sleep with her again don't you?" She asked.

"WE didn't!… I mean we did but we didn't you know…. Actually you better not know what I mean. The point is we didn't and I wasn't planning on it this week. But I see what your saying, maybe I should make some reservations at a nice restaurant out there." Rick said looking confused.

"Already taken care of you two have reservations at the Blue Room tomorrow night at eight and for the record me and Kelly don't have a problem with the two of you sharing a room together, but we do have a problem with you messing this up. So you better make this work. I really like Jordan, and Kelly is the sister I always wanted. So if there is anything your not sure about or if you need help with anything you come to us and we'll make it work." Alexis said with a stern expression.

"Okay." Rick said confused. He didn't know where that came from. "I don't plan on messing this up. I think I'm in love with Jordan so you girls have nothing to worry about. That's why I wasn't planning on sharing the same room with her this week. I don't want to go too fast and ruin it. I want to go slowly and try to build a lasting thing with her. And I know you girls have a lot invested in this relationship so I'm glad I have the support of you two." Rick said as he hugged Alexis.

"We think you two are great together, and we want to see this work out." Alexis said as she pulled away to look at her dad.

"You and Kelly are quite the pair you know that. You two are a force to be reckoned with. The way you got us together was very devious. I tip my hat to you. You girls work good together." Rick said.

"I always wanted a little sister. I mean having you and Gram was great, but I always wanted a partner in crime." Alexis said as she went back to packing Rick's bag.

"You know you were supposed to have a little brother or sister right? Well that was the plan until your mom left. We always said we would have two kids then after you were born we started to fall apart. With her working and me staying at home. Then she left for California, and we never had that second kid." Rick explained.

"Well this is your chance to impart your wisdom on laser tag on someone else." Alexis said.

"Your right. And maybe the third marriage is the one that will last?" Rick said and laughed when Alexis dropped the hanger in her hand.

"Marriage?" She asked excitedly.

"We'll see let's get through the week first. Then we'll talk about it later." Rick said with a laugh.

That's not funny dad! You got my hopes up now. You better make this work or else!" she said pointing her finger at him and giving him a hard stare.

"Or else what." He said with a smile.

"You'll see, I've got connections now, and gram will be back in a few weeks. We have ways of making you pay Mr. Castle." She said in an evil Villon voice.

"I promise to make it work." He said as he hugged his daughter. And he did want it to work. Jordan was exactly the woman he needed. She was tough, and smart, and sexy. She laughed at his jokes and was unaffected by his fame. She had confidence in him to be a good agent, and he knew what it meant to put your all into a case. And he liked the idea of Alexis setting a good example for Kelly, it would keep both girls out of trouble. "I want to be with someone that understands me like Jordan does. I will do everything I can to make it work. I promise pumpkin." He said as he pulled back to look at Alexis.

"Good. Now lets finish up packing." Alexis said. She was excited about tomorrow, and the future as well. She was happy that her dad found someone like Jordan. But more importantly she was glad Kelly was apart of that deal too. She was even more glad that their plan worked so well so far. Faze one was to get the two of them to go out on a few dates together. Faze two was to get them to admit that they liked each other. Now all she had to do was put faze three into play. And it started with forcing them to share a room for the week.

AN: so this is the end of the first part off this story line. The next part will focus on Rick in the class room and out in the field working cases with Jordan. It will also cover the growing relationship between Rick and Jordan. There will be little to no mention of Beckett in the next part but that's not too big a loss in my opinion. Catch you next time, TBH.


End file.
